Halifax-based The Rounds, a leader in physician-to-physician collaboration, today announced a $1 million seed round. The fundraising effort closed today with a $250,000 investment from Innovacorp.
The company said it will use the money on growth and product development.
With nearly 1,500 physicians on board, The Rounds is Canada’s largest professional network developed exclusively for physicians. Members of The Rounds come from every province in the country and interact with each other more than 20,000 times each month.
The professional network for Canadian physicians launched earlier this year as a channel that connects physicians in a safe and secure platform across the country, offering members a user-friendly way to collaborate across specialties. With The Rounds, physicians can use mobile devices as well as their computers to securely share information concerning patient care and collaborate with other physicians in a secure HIPAA-compliant space.
The company commented in a release that fax and email continue to be used by many physicians, but pose “significant communications challenges.” They said estimated that 80 percent of serious preventable adverse patient events happen due to poor communication among healthcare providers. The Rounds tackles this issue by providing physicians with tools to engage quickly and effectively – within a network where doctors can expand connections across specialties.
“The Rounds’ goal is to empower physicians to collaborate effectively while using social media and technology to connect and collaborate like never before,” said CEO Blair Ryan. “This investment gives us additional resources to grow quickly and strategically, innovate effectively, and deliver on our vision to improve healthcare for all Canadians.”
Innovacorp’s Dawn Umlah said the product “benefits all Canadians.”
“This investment will help The Rounds connect with more Canadian physicians and accelerate their growth as it relates to product innovation and user acquisition,” said Umlah.
The Rounds isn’t the first mobile-based social network to target medical professionals. Earlier this year, Toronto-based Figure 1 announced it had expanded to Android and web platforms after users uploaded over 30 million images. Figure 1 allows healthcare professionals to share (often gruesome) images with small groups of colleagues or with the wider medical community.
Figure 1 raised $2 million in seed funding from Version One Ventures and Rho Canada Ventures in December 2013.
