MATTER startup CareSignal acquired

Remote patient monitoring platform acquired in the rise of digital health

In a previous blog post, we shared how MATTER member startups are contributing to the surge in digital health investment. Add MATTER member CareSignal®, a remote patient monitoring platform acquired by a healthcare analytics platform, to the list.

Read on for insight from CareSignal CEO and Co-founder Blake Marggraff on starting CareSignal, challenges he and his team faced on their journey to acquisition and how MATTER helped along the way.

CareSignal, an automated, deviceless remote patient monitoring (RPM) platform for value-based care, was acquired by Lightbeam Health, a leading healthcare analytics platform, on November 15, 2021.

What was the inspiration to start CareSignal?
Blake Marggraff, co-founder and CEO of CareSignal: “The founding team — myself, Evan Huang, Avik Som, Joe McDonald and C Stavridis — decided to move into digital health in order to have the most positive impact per person and leverage technology to scale that impact. We noticed that so many innovative technologies were being developed, but not adopted. When we tried to understand why, we recognized that healthcare is a bit different. Just having great technology is not sufficient. You need great technology that’s backed by evidence and aligned with current and forthcoming incentives — which can be a pretty intense lift.

“In 2015, we set out to build the first true portfolio of evidence-based programs for remote monitoring that was also accessible, health-equitable and highly scalable. This was right before everybody began to lean into the shift to value-based care; ACA was rolling out alternative payment models and folks were finally starting to dabble in true downside risk with Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). We started having conversations at a really exciting time.”

What challenges did CareSignal face on the journey to acquisition?
Blake: “Aside from standard startup challenges, such as scaling as rapidly as possible and aligning with a complex and complicated market, and the pandemic over the past two years, we were really fortunate. We had great investors who generously guided us and shared trends they had seen companies fall into before so that we could avoid mistakes. Another challenge for many startups is churn through the founding team, which ends up chewing up a lot of time and energy. We have the same founding team that has executed for the entire track of the company.

“That said, it certainly was not easy operating in such a hot space where so many great companies are innovating. It can lead to a lot of conversations around differentiation when the reality is it may be best for a startup to focus on what the market actually needs and execute toward that rather than differentiating simply for the sake of being different.”

“…the reality is it may be best for a startup to focus on what the market actually needs and execute toward that rather than differentiating simply for the sake of being different.”

How did MATTER help CareSignal along the way?
Blake: “First of all, MATTER and the companies in the MATTER community are role models for us. Even before MATTER knew about CareSignal, we definitely knew about MATTER. A couple of MATTER’s partners were some of our earliest client partners, as well as some of our earliest investors. These investors provided examples of successful companies that were taking strategic approaches to growth — and a lot of those were MATTER companies.

“Also, we’re really fortunate to have met Dr. Pigott from ProMedica during a MATTER webinar last year, which led to a great client relationship afterward. Not to mention the MATTER space is a great spot to be whenever I’m in Chicago for meetings.”

What does this acquisition mean for CareSignal?
Blake: “This acquisition means much more opportunity for accelerated growth. After seeing what Lightbeam has done in the market and what the Lightbeam team is capable of, it’s energizing to have the opportunity to work together. The CareSignal mission is to accentuate opportunities for life-changing intervention so that our partners can have a real impact and intervene at the right time. And that’s exactly what the relationship with Lightbeam sets us, as a combined company, up to do.

“They have industry-leading population health that is the best at stratifying populations for both clinical and financial sustainability across all types of organizations in the market. CareSignal, which sits immediately downstream of that value proposition, can then take those extremely detailed and often non-obvious insights and turn them into clinical and financial value in very short order for the same organizations, as well as many new organizations and populations. This acquisition gives us a unique opportunity to continue to execute on our shared product and company missions.”

To stay up to date on MATTER startup accomplishments, please visit matter.health/stories/community.

About MATTER

MATTER, the premier healthcare incubator and innovation hub, includes more than 300 cutting-edge startups from around the world, working together with dozens of hospitals and health systems, universities and industry-leading companies to build the future of healthcare. Together, the MATTER community is accelerating innovation, advancing care and improving lives. For more information, visit matter.health and follow @MATTERhealth.