Bright investment by Stanford-StartX

Bright.md, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for healthcare, has closed a series A worth $3.5m and backed by Stanford-StartX fund.

The fund, which focuses on startups which have graduated from Stanford’s student-led incubator StartX, was joined by Seven Peaks Ventures and Oregon Angel Fund, which led the round.

Bright.md’s SaaS platform, SmartExam, offers a service which the Oregon-based company is billing as a virtual physician assistant. The platform allows patients to connect online with their primary care providers and undertake an evidence-based online examination at a lower cost than a trip to the doctors in person.

Co-founder Mark Swinth attained his MBA from Stanford’s Business School, and attended StartX’s medical programme StartXMed earlier in the year.

Ray Costantini, CEO of Bright.md, said: “As an early stage company, it’s exciting to see such strong support for our product, which has been underscored by the success of our Series A raise. In addition to the funds we closed, we had more than $1 million of additional investor commitments, and were able to be very selective in our capital strategy. We’ve attracted a stellar group of early-stage investors to help us take a more aggressive approach. Their support helps us capitalise on the accelerated market momentum we’re seeing, including expansion of our initial implementations and the addition of multiple, exciting new clients.”