Healthcare technology startup Aetion announced Tuesday it closed on a massive $110 million Series C round led by global growth equity firm Warburg Pincus, with participation from existing investors New Enterprise Associates and Flare Capital Partners. The company will use the money to further innovate its platform, expand its footprint in Europe and Asia, and grow its commercial team to keep up with a surge in demand.
The company is also hiring, with dozens of open positions at its NYC headquarters and offices in Boston and Los Angeles.
Aetion focuses on real-world evidence — data gathered outside of randomized controlled experiments that determines the potential risks and benefits of certain medications. The platform was launched in 2013 by a team of Harvard Medical School faculty members, allowing biopharmaceutical, payer and medical device companies to collaborate and share insights to provide better care to patients.
In a nutshell, Aetion informs some of the most critical decisions in healthcare to guide what kind of products get produced and how they get marketed. Its platform is used by the majority of the top global biopharma firms, payers and regulatory agencies, according to the company.
“As the use of real-world evidence expands globally, we believe our investment will help advance Aetion’s technology and further inflect its growth,” TJ Carella, the managing director and head of healthcare at Warburg Pincus, said in a statement. “Aetion has shown incredible growth over the last year, scaling its platform and forming industry-leading partnerships.”
Indeed, over the past year Aetion claims to have nearly doubled its revenue and secured 100 percent of customer renewals. It also became the first company of its kind to establish an FDA COVID-19 research collaboration agreement, and was selected by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review to be its real-world evidence partner and platform.
CEO Carolyn Magill says this latest funding round will be essential in maintaining this trajectory as we come out of the pandemic.
“In a post-COVID era, we have an imperative to use rapid, rigorous evidence to inform healthcare decisions,” Magill said in a statement. “This investment reinforces Aetion’s position as [a real-world evidence] leader and our potential for growth as we enable our customers to generate regulatory-grade evidence at scale.”
