Twine Health, a US-based digital health spinout from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), agreed to an acquisition by wearable producer Fitbit on Tuesday.
Financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed. The deal is expected to close within the first quarter of this year.
Founded in 2013, Twine Health has developed a digital health platform that helps users manage chronic conditions, such as diabetes and hypertension, and make lifestyle changes, such as giving up smoking.
The platform connects one coach with multiple patients, exploiting artificial intelligence technology to provide cost efficiency and scalability, while also connecting friends, family and providers to collaborate on care plans.
The service conforms to US regulations around protecting sensitive patient data – a law known as HIPAA.
Fitbit will integrate the Twine Health team into its Health Solutions division and hopes the technology will enable it to further expand its own offering around healthcare. Longer-term, Fitbit also hopes to add more medical conditions to Twine’s platform.
Twine Health was co-founded by John Moore, Frank Moss and Scott Gilroy to exploit clinical and studies into behaviour change at the Media Lab, an interdisciplinary research lab at MIT. Moore, chief executive of Twine Health, will serve as medical director at Fitbit.
The spinout raised a total of 8.3m in funding, most recently securing $1.5m in a series A1 round led by Qiming Venture Partners in November 2017. The series A1 round also featured unnamed, existing backers.
In 2015, Khosla Ventures, Provenance Venture Forum, and Tower Capital Partners provided $6.8m in series A funding. Twine Health has also named Neoteny Labs as a shareholder, though its precise involvement is not clear.
Moore said: “We built Twine Health with the goal of putting people back at the centre of their care, helping them take ownership of their health actions and outcomes with the continuous support of both clinicians and loved ones.
“Technology has a profound opportunity to facilitate this shift in behavior and give people the coaching they need to overcome the challenges that arise in daily life.
“That potential becomes even more compelling when combined with Fitbit, whose brand and ability to engage and motivate a diverse range of consumers is incredibly powerful.
“Together, we can build a complete experience to optimise health at scale, across the full spectrum from prevention to disease management.”
