MedRhythms raises money from Bose, wins national angel investment award

MedRhythms, a digital therapeutics and medical-device startup in Portland, has been racking up the headlines this month.

During May, it announced that it…

• accepted an investment from Bose Ventures, the venture capital arm of Bose Corp. (yes, the speaker company);
• won a prestigious national award from the Angel Capital Association;
• launched a teletherapy platform amid the coronavirus outbreak;
• and, just for good measure even though it happened at the end of April, created the digital therapeutic industry’s first Patient Advisory Board.

The company, founded in 2015 by Brian Harris and Owen McCarthy, is developing digital therapeutics that use wearable sensors, software, and music to help people suffering from neurologic injuries or diseases to regain their mobility. The company’s first product, Stride, which is focused on helping those who have suffered from a stroke, entered clinical trails late last year at five of the country’s top rehabilitation hospitals and research centers. It has also secured two patents in the last six months to protect its IP.

Bose backs MedRhythms

The company announced last week that it had accepted an investment from Bose Ventures, the venture capital arm of Bose Corp., the well-known audio equipment company. Bose Ventures was launched in 2018 to invest in startups working on apps and services that could be incorporated into Bose’s augmented reality platform. It also has a focus on investing in companies applying cutting-edge audio technology to health and wellness.

The size of Bose’s investment was not disclosed. To date, the company has raised at least $6.4 million, including a $5 million Series A that it raised during the summer of 2018.

In addition to the money, MedRhythms will also benefit from the potentially valuable collaborations with Bose businesses and access to its world-class audio technology experts.

“MedRhythms looks forward to working with Bose in this capacity, given the company’s tradition of building research-driven, best-in-class audio products,” Brian Harris, MedRhythms’ co-founder and CEO, said in a statement provided to Maine Startups Insider. “Their recent focus in healthcare makes them an ideal investor for MedRhythms. This investment continues to build the foundation for MedRhythms to scale products to reach the millions of people around the world with neurologic injuries and diseases that impair mobility.”

Other investors in MedRhythms include Werth Family Investment Associates, a Connecticut-based fund; Maine Venture Fund; and Jean Hoffman, a local angel investor.

MedRhythms wins national award

On May 18, the Angel Capital Association, a national group that supports angel investors around the country, announced that it had selected MedRhythms to receive the Luis Villalobos Award for Life Sciences, which recognizes “the most ingenious and innovative idea” recently financed by ACA members.

“As a company built on a mission to improve the lives of all those around the world living with neurologic injury and disease, capital raised from angel investors has been crucial in our ability to innovate and make the impact we have thus far, and we are humbled to be recognized by the ACA in this way,” Harris said in a statement.

Joe Powers, a principal at Maine Venture Fund, nominated the company for the award.

“As an economic development arm of the State of Maine, Maine Venture Fund is incredibly proud to support Brian, Owen, and the MedRhythms team in pioneering a dynamic technology that offers not only massive potential for the company, but also the promise of considerable public benefit for Mainers and people around the world,” Powers said.

Teletherapy platform launch

In 2013, Harris started the neurologic music therapy (or NMT) program at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston. NMT is the therapeutic application of music to treat cognitive, sensory, and motor dysfunctions due to neurologic disease or traumatic accidents.  The positive results he was witnessing in an in-patient environment spurred him to think about how he could scale that benefit to more patients and provide NMT to those who are not able to consistently visit a hospital or rehab clinic.

That was the genesis of MedRhythms, which has developed the software and hardware behind digital, NMT-inspired therapeutic devices that patients will eventually be able to use in their homes.

However, the company still maintains a division, MedRhythms Therapy, focused on providing traditional neurologic music therapy (or NMT) to patients. Once that service was disrupted by COVID-19 and the company’s therapists were no longer able to treat patients in-person, the company shifted its attention to creating a telemedicine platform. The telemedicine platform was on the company’s long-term to-do list, but the pandemic accelerated its development.

“Our vision has always been to build an impactful organization that can reach people across the globe. This pandemic has shown us the need that exists for these services and has accelerated the implementation of this important program,” Harris said.

Industry’s first Patient Advisory Board

At the end of April, MedRhythms announced the creation of its Patient Advisory Board, the first of its kind in the digital therapeutics industry.

The board’s six inaugural members are individuals from across the United States who are living with the effects of stroke, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease. The board members will provide MedRhythms, which prides itself on being a “patient-centric organization,” with guidance on its product development strategy.

“We started MedRhythms with the mission of improving the lives of those living with neurologic injuries and diseases that impact walking,” Harris said. “It is critical that the voice of the patient be core to our company and incorporated as an integral part of the process as we design products and build a company to serve them.”

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