1871 CEO Howard Tullman Presents CareMerge at Chicago Venture Summit

Caremerge Raises $4 Million

Caremerge Raises $4 Million To Expand Its Care Coordination Platform In Senior Health Care

Cambia Health Leads with Participation from GE Ventures, Ziegler-LinkAge Longevity Fund, Arsenal Venture Partners, and Generator Ventures

CHICAGO, Jan. 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Caremerge LLC, a revolutionary communication and care coordination platform for the senior care industry, announced today a $4 million first institutional financing round led by Cambia Health Solutions, and included additional investments from Generator Ventures, GE Ventures, Arsenal Venture Partners and Ziegler-LinkAge Longevity Fund. These investors are some of the first to focus on aging and long-term senior care.

The announcement comes as the health care marketplace increasingly uses technology to support better and more innovative health care, specifically to benefit seniors. Caremerge launched its first solution in late 2012 to help solve the care coordination and communication problems surrounding the senior care industry with a HIPAA-compliant, mobile/web-based platform that allows all senior living staff and authorized stakeholders (i.e. family members, doctors, etc.) to capture, centralize, and share seniors' activities and clinical information in order to facilitate the best care possible. 

Caremerge has built strategic relationships with many leading health care providers and technology vendors in this space making it one of the top companies changing the face of senior care in the U.S. today.

"We are honored to have such visionary partners as investors. Each one brings tremendous value to Caremerge's vision to revolutionize care coordination for our most chronic and fragile demographic," said Asif Khan, Founder & CEO of Caremerge. "These new partnerships and capital will allow Caremerge to continue to take a leading role in the senior care industry through simple technology; and therefore improving the lives of everyone involved."

"Cambia actively supports innovative solutions that can change the game for seniors and families confronting the challenges of aging.  The Caremerge solution is just such an innovation, enabling senior living facilities and service providers to give better, more efficient and reliable care while keeping seniors in lower acuity environments," said Cambia Health Solutions Senior Vice President of Strategic Investment and Corporate Development Rob Coppedge. "Caremerge is improving lives through their simple and high impact technology solution… we could not be more excited about this new partnership."

About Caremerge

Caremerge forges meaningful connections between providers, families and seniors seeking to improve communication in today's complex health care environment. With a revolutionary, easy-to-use cloud-based coordination platform, Caremerge keeps the entire care team informed and cohesive through an intuitive interface that enables real-time staff interaction, provides families with peace of mind and improves overall senior wellness.

For more information on Caremerge, LLC and the Care Coordination Platform, please contact Stacy Callahan at 917-972-1101, email: stacy@astonishmediagroup.com.

About Cambia Health Solutions

Cambia Health Solutions, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, is a nonprofit total health solutions company dedicated to transforming health care by creating a person-focused and economically sustainable system. Cambia's growing family of companies ranges from software and mobile applications, health care marketplaces, non-traditional health care delivery models, health insurance, life insurance, pharmacy benefit management, wellness and overall consumer engagement. Through bold thinking and innovative technology, Cambia is delivering solutions that make quality health care more available, affordable and personally relevant for everyone. To learn more, visit cambiahealth.com or twitter.com/cambia.

1871 CEO HOWARD TULLMAN WELCOMES MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL FOR TECH JOB PLEDGE ANNOUNCEMENT

Chicago tech sector — and 1871 hub — out to expand

Chicago tech sector — and 1871 hub — out to expand

Digital center seeks more space; 24 firms aim to boost staff

Entrance to 1871 inside Chicago's Merchandise Mart. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

By Ellen Jean Hirst, Tribune reporter

April 2, 2014

Chicago's leading tech startup center is in talks to expand its space at the Merchandise Mart by 50 percent, adding 25,000 square feet in order to accommodate more young digital companies, specialized incubators and offices for out-of-town venture capitalists, top officials said Tuesday.

Howard Tullman, CEO for 1871, said the 2-year-old incubator for tech startups, which now provides 50,000 square feet of work space for digital entrepreneurs, has engaged the Merchandise Mart, the city and the state about a possible expansion, though adding that "it's not a done deal."

"The original plans for 1871 contemplated that there would be some adjacent expansion space," Tullman said.

The tech center's main objective is to help businesses build to a point of self-sufficiency. Venture capitalist J.B. Pritzker provided early funding for 1871, which also got a $2.3 million grant from the state. The space also pulled in corporate sponsorships from CDW, Google and Comcast, among others. Monthly memberships range from $150 to $450.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said at a news conference Tuesday at 1871 that Chicago's tech industry has grown to about 40,000 tech workers. He wants to double that number to 80,000 in the next decade. Joined by representatives from 24 companies, Emanuel said they had committed to hiring a total of more than 400 people in the next two years.

"They're across a waterfront of industries and sectors," Emanuel said of the companies. "But nobody just hires to that cap. … Some will exceed it, some may not. But I think overall this is a conservative number just for these companies alone."

Kal Patel joined two of his tech entrepreneur companions almost two years ago to create AdYapper, which tracks how digital advertisements perform.

"The Krafts of the world are afraid to spend more on digital (advertising), because they don't get the transparency" of how well the ads perform, Patel said. "You might serve 100 million ads, but we'll tell you: 'Only 30 million were viewable and it reached only 5 million people. And here are the best sets of them.'"

The company has eight employees. But Patel said the company expects to hire 20 to 30 more in the next two years.

Asif Khan's startup — health care integrative tech company Caremerge — bridges the gap between senior patients, doctors and their families by integrating mobile and Web technologies. Khan said his company has committed to hiring 10 to 20 employees over the next two years.

The other companies that will commit to hire at least 10 new employees in the next two years are: Options Away, Modest, Risk I/O, Centro, Georama, SpotHero, Food Genius, Eli's Cheesecake, Simple Relevance, MarkITx, Whittl, Philo Broadcasting, Occasion, Rocketmiles, Human Practice, AKTA, Cleversafe, CharlieHQ, ContextMedia, 640 Labs, ConversePoint and Newport Avenue.

"May 2012, when we first got selected (by 1871), we were only two people. Wires were hanging, furniture was moving in. It was just fantastic chaos. Fast-forward two years, we are now 22 employees; we are in 130 senior living facilities across the United States," Khan said. "Many companies like us are ... really challenging, innovating and disrupting the status quo across the nation, right from here."

ehirst@tribune.com

Twitter @ellenjeanhirst

1871 CEO HOWARD TULLMAN SPEAKS AT IBM GLOBAL ENTREPRENEUR DAY - CHICAGO