Salvo Health, a digital gastrointestinal care company, raised $4 million in an extended Seed Prime round after announcing a $5 million investment in February of last year.
New investor The Artemis Fund participated in the extended round alongside existing investors City Light, Human Ventures, Threshold Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Felicis Ventures and Torch Capital.
“We launched commercially last summer, and now we have signed GI practices representing 700 physicians across nine states,” Jeff Glueck, founder and CEO of Salvo Health, told MobiHealthNews.
Along with partnering with brick-and-mortar clinics that offer gastrointestinal care, the New York-based company offers a virtual clinic designed for people with chronic gastrointestinal and metabolic liver issues.
The platform addresses celiac disease, fatty liver disease, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and dyspepsia.
Salvo, which launched in 2022 with $10.5 million in funding, matches users with a care team comprising registered dietitians, behavioral health specialists and licensed nurses. Users can also receive insurance-covered interdisciplinary care.
Additionally, patients enrolled in remote patient monitoring are provided a free home medical device, such as a connected scale to update their healthcare team on a medical weight loss program or a heart rate variability medical-grade sensor that provides biofeedback.
“As with all of medicine, there can be a great deal of pressure to perform enough gold standard colonoscopies and endoscopies for colorectal cancer screening and the like. That leaves very little time and usually no resources for some of the follow-on care that is recommended by the research and the guidelines,” Glueck said.
“GI psychology, food is medicine, microbiome diversity, support and stress, sleep, exercise – all of these things are part of evidence-based lifestyle medicine. Physicians do fiber scans, colonoscopies and determine the diagnosis, but they generally are not set up with the resources to provide the daily follow-up support that patients need. We are an extension of that local brick-and-mortar physician office, but we’re purely digital.”
Glueck stated that in the last eight months, Salvo Health’s revenue has increased eightfold and is expected to grow another six times by the end of the year. Additionally, its patient numbers have increased by 800% from September 2024 to April.
“We’re in that hyper-growth period where we need to be hiring and investing more in our technology to scale, and that is what this extension provides,” Glueck said.
The company will utilize the extended seed funds to expand its workforce, including dietitian, therapist and nurse staffing across partner offices in multiple states, as well as deploy its offerings with its GI partner clinics over the next 12+ months.
“For that local physician, we are an extension of their office. We’re providing continuous care. Second, it’s interdisciplinary care. It’s really important that it is both food as medicine and mental health and lifestyle medicine, so you have a team of experts. Thirdly, it is closely coordinated with your local, trusted doctor so that when you come back in for your next appointment, that doctor in your chart is fully up to date,” Glueck said.
“The Salvo app also reminds patients of what they are working on. This week, you might be working on three to five new habits that are among our 400 scientifically backed little, small-step changes that will make you thrive with your chronic condition, but it’s different for each patient, and that’s the beauty of our technology.”
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