Quick Take
Tech giant Google (GOOG) has acquired digital health startup Senosis Health for an undisclosed amount, according to a report in GeekWire.
Senosis has developed a family of smartphone apps that monitor newborn jaundice, lung function and blood hemoglobin by using the smartphone’s camera and microphone.
Google is pushing forward on digital health initiatives through its Verily unit, and the deal likely fits into one of its core health platform initiatives as Senosis provides a range of technologies that can be scaled across the multi-billion smartphone installed base worldwide.
Target Company
Seattle, Washington-based Senosis was founded to capitalize on the increasingly advanced capabilities of smartphone sensors to assist in the measurement and diagnosis of a range of diseases.
Management is headed by co-founder and CEO Shwetak Patel, who previously founded technology startups that have been acquired by larger technology companies.
Below is a brief overview of Senosis’ HemaApp:
(Source: Paul G. Allen School)
Senosis’ has developed four smartphone-based apps:
- Bilicam – Uses the smartphone camera to detect newborn jaundice
- Spirosmart/Spirocall – Measures lung function by having user blow into smartphone microphone
- HemaApp – Uses the smartphone camera to measure blood hemoglobin
- OsteoApp – Uses the accelerometers to measure bone strength via vibrations
Notably, Senosis’ revenue model was a ‘pay-per-use’ model.
The company reportedly didn’t raise any venture capital, rather had secured $1 million from the SBIR program and was in the process of raising early stage funding when the acquisition was proposed.
Acquisition Terms and Rationale
Neither company has confirmed the deal or disclosed the acquisition price or terms.
Apparently, the deal is primarily for the technology and engineers, and not for senior management or founders at Senosis. Google hasn’t filed an 8-K, so I presume the deal was for a non-material amount.
Google has been interested in digital health for years but has little to show for that interest.
It currently has a simple application, called Google Fit, which is really just a fitness tracking app but one which can aggregate third-party app data for the user. So, Google’s main benefit so far has been integrating other technologies at a very basic level.
According to the report’s author, John Cook, Google has been investing more substantially in its Verily digital health subsidiary, and Verily’s CTO Brian Otis ‘also has ties to the University of Washington’ where Senosis has drawn a number of researchers.
Verily appears to be pursuing ambitious technology development initiatives along several vectors:
- Sensors – Miniaturized CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) and smart contact lenses
- Interventions – Mosquito reduction, bioelectronic medicines, arm mobility, retinal imaging and surgical robotics
- Health Platforms Population Health Tools – Healthcare performance measurement, chronic disease early detection and diabetes management tools
- Precision Medicine – Multiple sclerosis observation, coronary heart disease, personalized medicine for patients with Parkinson’s, NIH precision medicine initiative and Project Baseline for research data
So, the deal for Senosis would like fit into Verily’s ‘Health Platforms’ group and promises to jumpstart Google’s digital health ambitions due to the wide usage of smartphones and Google’s capacity to scale solutions throughout the world.
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Article source: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4098698-google-verily-unit-acquires-senosis-health