Nearly 60% of adult Americans have at least one chronic condition with a total cost of $3.7T per year. Rising levels of chronic diseases are contributing to a rapid growth in healthcare spending as these conditions require continuous care to prevent serious complications. Ciba Health is a virtual healthcare platform focused on the treatment of chronic conditions. The company is focused on delivering personalized care through tailored programs focused on common chronic conditions that include treatment of Type 2 Diabetes, Depression and Anxiety, Digestive Health, Advanced Primary Care, Prediabetes, Weight Loss, and Obesity. For each of these programs, Ciba takes a whole-body 360-degree approach, backed by looking at individual biochemistry to develop customized plans with remote patient monitoring with the help of practitioners including physicians, behavioral therapists, dieticians, and health coaches. Healthcare costs associated with participants have gone down 17-30% in the first 12 months after enrollment and medication usage has decreased by 85%.
AlleyWatch caught up with Ciba Health CEO Dr. Innocent Clement to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, recent round of funding, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Series A, $10M, DigiTX Partners – lead investor.
Tell us about the product or service that Ciba Health offers.
Ciba Health is a global digital health and value-based care platform focused on reversing chronic conditions utilizing a whole-person health and root-cause approach to personalize care.
What inspired the start of Ciba Health?
Approximately 50% of the US population is affected by chronic diseases, leading to a growing epidemic. Shockingly, a staggering 86% of healthcare costs can be attributed to these chronic conditions. However, despite the prevalence of these conditions, many individuals still face significant barriers in accessing necessary healthcare services to effectively prevent and reverse chronic diseases.
What chronic conditions patients need the most is the healthcare provider who puts emphasis on researching the underlying reasons and root causes of their diseases. Unfortunately, what most patients face these days is standardized protocols, no personalization, and little to no access to providers who help facilitate change such as registered dietitians and health coaches. Ciba Health is here to close this gap and provide the access to personalized whole-person healthcare to as many people as possible.
How is Ciba Health different?
We are focused on researching the unique biochemistry of every patient, get to the root cause of symptoms, reduce medications, prevent and reverse diseases, and let people live life to its fullest.
Each patient works with a dedicated physician, dietitian, and health coach who work as a team to create a personalized health plan, and make sure the patient has tools, knowledge and behavioral support to implement it.
Ciba Health is also providing patients with all necessary digital tools to gain insights, effectively monitor, and help patients stay on track of their health plan.
What market does Ciba Health target and how big is it?
Ciba Health is a US company with presence in Canada, China, and UAE. According to the CDC, In the US alone, more than half (51.8%) of adults have at least 1 chronic condition and 27.2% of US adults have multiple chronic conditions.
What’s your business model?
Ciba Health has a B2B2C business model targeting employers and health plans in order to reach and serve the eligible population.
How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
Ciba Health focus is on providing value to all stakeholders that stays on-demand in any economic situation. Besides significant health improvements to the end users, employers and health plans can benefit from significant cost savings due to 85% in medication reduction and up to 98% chronic disease reversal rate.
What was the funding process like?
As for any startup, the funding process was a challenging, but yet, an extremely exciting process. We are fortunate to have so many supportive partners and a wonderful team that made it possible for us. It is certainly not easy to get funding in the current business environment, so we are very proud and thankful to everyone who helped us on our way. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us, and looking forward to new achievements.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
In the current economic climate, one of the most significant hurdles is the heightened competition for investment. Additionally, navigating the existing lending policies and dealing with economic uncertainties can be quite the task. It requires a keen understanding of the financial landscape and the ability to adapt quickly to sudden market changes.
Changes in financial regulations also pose a significant challenge. Keeping up with these changes and ensuring compliance can be complex and time-consuming. Lastly, the inherent risks associated with venture capital investments can be daunting. Entrepreneurs need to manage these risks effectively to secure and maintain investors’ confidence.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Ciba Health is offering a solution that is going to change chronic disease treatment standards. We have no doubt about that. We believe that our investors saw the potential and the growing need for the whole-person health, root-cause approach and we see that they are as excited as we are to take it to the next level – both in terms of the business growth and as a social mission.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Ciba Health is planning to expand the patient population by partnering with TPAs, healthcare navigation vendors, and employers. We have recently got into partnership with Solera Health and Stonebrook Risk Solutions. We also have relationships with Aetna, Cigna, Anthem BCBS (Now Elevance Health), Benecard and continue to expand our relationships with national as well as regional carriers.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
We believe that in order to attract new investments any company needs a solid business plan, strong team, market validation, evident competitive advantage, and most importantly, persistence.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Our immediate goal after closing this round is to hire key team members who will focus on growth as well as customer experience. We believe that with consistent operational improvements, pipeline growth, and shart focus on patient experience, we can scale and achieve our goals.
What’s your favorite fall destination in and around the city?
Hudson Yards and Central Park.