Mobile health firm wins $17M investment

SARASOTA — Voalte, a mobile health firm that uses smartphone technology and apps to simplify communication among health care employees and caregivers, has picked up another $17 million in funding.

The latest infusion brings the total capital Voalte has raised to nearly $60 million in three years, according to a release. The newest investors include health care industry stars Ascension Ventures and Cerner Capital. St. Louis-based Ascension Ventures, a venture fund with $550 million in capital under management, is a subsidiary of Ascension, the nation's largest Catholic, nonprofit health system. Cerner Capital is an affiliate of Cerner Corp., a Kansas City-based health care IT firm with $3.4 billion in annual sales.

Voalte CEO Trey Lauderdale says the capital is a great victory for the firm, founded in 2008. But the validation from being aligned with entities like Ascension and Cerner is also a big win.

“It's an exciting time for us,” Lauderdale tells the Business Observer in an interview. “These are two of the best names in health care.”

In addition to Ascension Ventures and Cerner Capital, part of the new round of funding comes from White Plains, N.Y.-based Bedford Funding, a technology-focused private equity firm. Bedford invested $36 million in Voalte in February 2014.

The capital, adds Lauderdale in a release, will be used to sustain a triple-digit growth trajectory for Voalte. The company grew revenues 250% year-over-year in the second quarter, due mostly to new products, services and a quickly expanding customer base, the release states. Voalte also had a three-year compound annual growth rate of 84.17% from 2011 to 2014, according to the 2015 Gator100, a ranking of companies run by University of Florida alumni.

Voalte stands for voice, alarm and text. Its technology works on both iPhone and Android systems, and at least 50,000 caregivers use Voalte's products and technology everyday, the company says, up from about 35,000 in 2014. The 125-employee company signed 44 new sites in the last quarter, according to the release.