What You Should Know:
– Ilant Health, a pioneering leader in value-based obesity management and cardiometabolic health solutions, announced today the extension of its seed round of fundraising from $3 million to $5.5 million.
– The women-led startup received additional funds from a combination of new health-oriented investors, including funds from LifeX Ventures, Celtic House Asia Partners, and Cornucopian Capital, as well as existing investors reaffirming their commitment to Ilant Health’s transformative mission.
Ilant Health: Pioneering Innovation in Obesity Treatment and Healthcare Financing
Ilant Health’s decision to extend its seed round arises amid its accelerating traction propelled by a robust clinical model and proprietary analytics. Notably, Ilant Health has achieved significant recognition, securing accolades such as all three World 50 Group Academies — EHIR, HPIR, and PHIR — and selection for Highmark and Allegheny Health Network’s accelerator, AlphaLab Health. Moreover, the company recently clinched the Employee Health Innovation Roundtable (EHIR) Traction Award, acknowledging its status as the company generating the highest level of interest from EHIR employer members.
Dr. Jeffrey Cohen, Chief Physician Executive at Allegheny Health Network, remarked, “AlphaLab Health looks for companies to solve problems facing healthcare today. Obesity is a major healthcare problem without an organized market approach to solving it. Ilant’s team incorporated behavioral modification, medical and surgical therapies into an organized approach utilizing their proprietary algorithm to tailor the best answer for each patient. We believe they will have a bright future helping provider and payor systems solve this critical healthcare need.”
Ilant Health attributes much of its success to the pivotal roles played by women in its development. Elina Onitskanky, CEO of Ilant Health, founded the company aware of the gender gap in venture capital funding, where only 2% of funding goes to women founders. Nevertheless, Ilant has thrived with steadfast support from healthcare and other women leaders and investors, contributing significantly to its present stature.
Elina, a Harvard Business School graduate, garnered support from several alumnae during the company’s growth. Her colleague Jessica Muse, recognizing its potential as an angel investor, joined as a co-founder and Chief Operating Officer in the company’s early days. Rika Christanto, Partner of LifeX Ventures, identified the vision for Ilant Health and demonstrated confidence by investing $2 million. Similarly, Chrissie Francona, acting as a scout for Pillar Ventures, recognized the startup’s potential and extended support through investment.
Ilant Health’s ongoing commercial traction is evidenced by the successful launch of clinical services to multiple employers and the utilization of its claims analytics for hundreds of thousands of lives on behalf of large health plans and employers. Ilant’s claims analytics, driven by unstructured machine learning, have yielded notable insights into potential reductions in total cost of care and return on investment from obesity treatment.
Outcomes from Ilant’s clinical care to date underscore its ability to engage individuals with the greatest need for care, including those with higher BMIs and medical comorbidities, all while maintaining a world-class Net Promoter Score (NPS). Ilant supports its members in understanding and selecting optimal treatment options – many of which are not GLP-1s – and then provides exceptional integrated care through obesity medicine physicians, dietitians, and mental health specialists.
As part of this fundraising initiative, Ilant has enlisted prominent industry advisors, including Teri Wisness, former Director of U.S. Benefits at Google and Partner at Iron Street Advisors, and Meghan Fitzgerald, former executive at Cardinal Health and member of the Board of Directors at Tenet Healthcare. Wisness commented, “When I met the Ilant team, I was impressed by how they are bringing something new to the obesity treatment market – truly solving employer needs by addressing both utilization management and care provision, recognizing the need.”
