Digital Assent closes $2 million Series A equity financing round

Jan 24 2011

Atlanta-based Digital Assent, provider of the PatientPad self-service patient check-in and patient education solution, announces the closing of a $2 million Series A round of equity financing led by Imlay Investments, Fulcrum Equity Partners and BLH Venture Partners.

The completion of the oversubscribed round of funding allows the company, founded in 2009, to execute on its vision at an accelerated pace. That vision – to make the "patient clipboard" a thing of the past by automating the patient intake process – relies largely on this month's launch of a national campaign to sell and deploy the PatientPad to practices in all major U.S. metropolitan markets by the end of 2011.  Additionally, the company will use the funds to expand sales and marketing programs, increase its workforce and invest in ongoing research and development, all the while preparing itself for a possible second round of financing to come at the end of the year.

"The $2 Million Series A Financing is critical to quickly establishing a national presence and rapidly expanding our point-of-care network," said Andrew Ibbotson, Digital Assent's president and CEO.  "We believe the stellar reputations of our investors and their faith in Digital Assent is a testament to the work we've done so far, and to our future plans."

In the United States, patients make more than 1 billion doctors visits each year and currently less than one percent of medical practices have any kind of automated patient check-in solution.  A combination of global and domestic trends suggest that the PatientPad is a timely and relevant solution, including the growing pervasiveness of self-service technologies in other markets, the exploding popularity of touch-screen devices, and roughly $36 billion in government incentives to implement electronic health record solutions.

"This is an experienced team with the expertise and energy to fill a large and growing need," said Sig Mosely, president of Imlay Investments, who has made investments in more than 120 start-ups and private companies over the last two decades and is recognized for his leadership in building and growing the Georgia technology community. "We see great potential here."

Along with Imlay, two other angel investors, James Balloun and David McKenney, are part of Digital Assent's first round of financing.  All three angels had a previous relationship with Ibbotson, having invested in his former company, Synthis Corporation, which had a successful exit prior to the creation of Digital Assent.

In addition to the angels, three new investors joined Digital Assent's initial round of financing.  Fulcrum Equity Partners, BLH Venture Partners, and Mark Buffington of Buckhead Investment Partners all contributed to close out the $2 million Series A financing.

"We expanded our round after hearing from these investors that they were interested in joining our angels," explained Ibbotson.  "We are proud to have raised capital that comes with proven strategic and operational guidance from these new partners, and we look forward to working with them to continue to grow our business."

Frank X. Dalton, general partner at Fulcrum Equity Partners added, "Ibbotson and his team did an excellent job of proving the demand for the PatientPad in 2010.  Not only does the PatientPad streamline the check-in process, it also provides pharmaceutical and health organizations a cost effective way to deliver targeted educational messaging directly to interested patients at the point-of-care.  We are pleased to be a part of this venture."

The $2 million financing has already allowed Digital Assent to make strides towards securing customers outside of the Southeast; in early January the team signed its first customers in New York, Ohio, Texas and south Florida. If all goes as planned, the company may be seeking an additional $5 million to $10 million in funding through a Series B round of financing by year's end to grow the product footprint, add new revenue streams, and expand into other health-care disciplines.

SOURCE Digital Assent