Startups

Smarter Health gets $5.15M SGD to reduce healthcare costs in Southeast Asia

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Singapore health tech startup Smarter Health's team
Image Credits: Smarter Health (opens in a new window)

Organizing information from providers, insurers and patients not only takes a lot of time, but increases private healthcare costs. Smarter Health, a Singaporean-based startup, develops technology that allows smoother exchange of data between different parties in the healthcare system, improving patient care and reducing administrative costs. The company announced today it has raised a $5.15 million SGD (about $3.8 million USD) Series A led by East Ventures for product development and to expand in Southeast Asia.

Other investors included Orbit Malaysia, Citrine Capital, HMI Group and Emtek.

The company currently operates in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, and plans to enter into new countries with its new funding. The new round brings Smarter Health’s total raised to $8 million SGD.

Smarter Health’s platform isn’t meant to replace legacy software already in use by its clients. Instead, it seeks to work with them, and reduce manual processes. The startup’s AI-based tech enables secure data exchanges (with patient consent) between healthcare providers, insurers and patients. This enables it to offer a roster of services. For payors and insurers, this includes a patient concierge that recommends specialists, schedules appointments and creates demographic profiles of policy holders. It also automates claims assessments, updates insurers about cases and makes the bill and claims adjudication process faster.

The company has three main customer categories: doctors, hospitals and insurers and other corporate payors, like AIA, Allianz and Prudential, which make up the bulk of its business.

For healthcare organizations and providers, Smarter Health offers specialist recommendations and patient registration tools, a load-levelling solution that shortens waiting times and digitized hospital admissions and claim submissions.

In a statement, East Ventures co-founder and managing partner Willson Cuaca said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has forced insurers and healthcare providers to reflect and re-strategize on their operations, catalyzing digital transformation. Smarter Health is here to make healthcare accessible, affordable and accountable by providing an AI-powered interoperable platform.”

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