Osteoboost Health, a developer of FDA-cleared wearable therapy for osteopenia—clinically proven to reduce bone loss in the spine, raised $8 million in a fresh financing round to scale manufacturing, expand clinical research, and broaden the commercial reach of its medical device for low bone density.
Ambit Health Ventures led the investment round with participation from new investors Emmeline Ventures and Disrupt Health Impact Fund.
“The cost of osteoporosis to society is enormous, but this is not a condition that begins at diagnosis,” said Laura Yecies, chief executive officer of Osteoboost Health. “This funding advances Osteoboost’s vision of building a complete bone health solution and changing the trajectory of bone health for millions.”
The funding comes at a critical time when nearly 10 million Americans are currently living with osteoporosis, while an additional 44 million are affected by age-related low bone density — a condition that often goes undiagnosed until a fracture occurs, according to the company.
Osteoboost, a class II prescription medical device, is the first and only FDA-cleared, non-drug treatment clinically proven to treat low bone density in postmenopausal women with osteopenia, the precursor to osteoporosis.
Worn low around the hips and over the sacrum, the Osteoboost prescription medical device delivers targeted, low-magnitude, precisely calibrated vibration therapy directly to the lumbar spine and hips, regions most vulnerable to fracture.
The treatment was inspired by NASA-funded research and was proven in a gold-standard, double-blinded clinical trial at the University of Nebraska Medical Center to slow the loss of bone density by 85% in the spine and 55% in the hips, respectively, for patients who used the device 3 times per week or more for 30- minute sessions during a 12-month period.
Osteoboost Health said that more than 2,500 physicians have prescribed the Osteoboost device to date.
Digital health companies, including digital bone health therapeutics startups, have secured more than $180 billion in funding to date, according to our recent Funding Database.
Notable recent digital health funding rounds include:
- Click Therapeutics, a developer of AI-based digital therapeutics, raised $50 million in Series D funding from Boehringer Ingelheim, to support the commercialization of its CT-155, an investigational prescription digital therapeutic that is being studied for the treatment of the experiential negative symptoms of schizophrenia in adults aged 18 years and older.
- Ethermed, a healthcare technology startup building AI-driven automation for prior authorization and medical-necessity workflows, raised $8.5 million in Series A funding to expand its enterprise platform and scale its growing network of health-system partners.
- Worki, a San Francisco-based healthcare workforce productivity visibility startup, raised $2.75 million in pre-seed funding led by Redesign Health and Healthliant Ventures, the venture arm of Tanner Health.
- Joyful Health, a provider of AI financial infrastructure for healthcare revenue operations, raised $17 million in Series A funding to build a financial operating system for healthcare providers.
- Luminai, a provider of an AI-powered healthcare workflow automation platform, raised $38 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total funding to date to $60 million.
- Keebler Health, a clinical documentation startup, raised $16 million in a Series A funding round to accelerate commercial growth in the US. Including the Series A round, Keebler Health has raised $23 million to date.