All Access

Health Tech Deals

Health Tech Deals Alerts

Alert

Standard

Health Tech Deals Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

mustard

BFD Expert Voices - Health Tech Deals

BFD Expert Voices

topics

politics-policy

epstein-files

donald-trump

2026-midterm-elections

immigration

behind-the-curtain

race-and-equity

technology

privacy-tech-regulation

automation-and-ai

tiktok-news

big-tech

social-media

cybersecurity

economy

social-security

inflation

tariffs

federal-reserve

jobs

transportation

business

stock-market-news

retail-news

crypto

media

elon-musk

dealmaking

health

rfk-jr

drug-prices

axios-explains-abortion

public-health

world

israel

axios-explains-ukraine

iran

russia

china

energy-climate

nuclear-energy

climate-energy-policy

climate-change

extreme-weather

alternative-energy

electric-vehicles

science

emerging-tech

biomedicine

newsletters

pittsburgh

atlanta

san-diego

charlotte

boulder

washington-dc

kansas-city

dallas

denver

detroit

des-moines

austin

boston

chicago

cleveland

columbus

houston

indianapolis

miami

nashville

new-orleans

nw-arkansas

philadelphia

phoenix

portland

richmond

salt-lake-city

san-antonio

san-francisco

seattle

tampa-bay

twin-cities

raleigh

huntsville

axios-local

axios-pro

axios-live

the-axios-show

Folia Health, a chronic disease tracking startup, raised a $10.5 million Series A, CEO Nell Meosky Luo tells Axios exclusively.

Why it matters: Folia is trying to supply the high-quality datasets that pharmaceutical companies desperately need. 

Follow the money: S3 Ventures led the round, joined by Crosslink Capital and Create Health Ventures. 

Folia will partly use proceeds to build out what Meosky Luo calls "knowledge centers" for its users — a combination of brick-and-mortar clincs and online databases, for a better understanding of disease.

Meosky Luo expects the company won't need to raise again for at least another two years.

How it works: Folia's tools let patients log symptoms, treatments, and outcomes, giving them more granular control over their data use. 

Pharmaceutical companies and academic medical centers pay to use Boston-based Folia's data.

The platform is free for participants, who can earn "data dividends" when their information powers research.

Meosky Luo says on average, people have made roughly $50 a month in exchange for collecting data for 15-30 minutes.

By the numbers: The company says it has eight pharmaceutical partners and 40,000 users across more than 500 conditions.

What they're saying: "What we're fundamentally interested in is pushing forward the conversation on how we think about the outcomes we use to choose to evaluate drugs," Meosky Luo tells Axios.

"One of the biggest blinking red lights is in rare disease," she adds. "The existing study designs are very hard to achieve because of the [low] population numbers."

Inside the room: Folia's approach has already informed regulatory discussions at the FDA and treatment guidelines, per Meosky Luo.

Its data, she says, has underpinned research across conditions such as lupus, sickle cell disease, and eczema, as well as multiple studies with Novartis in hematology and rare kidney disease.

In addition, Folia has published research with Pfizer, Soleno Therapeutics. and The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, per Meosky Luo.

Reality check: Giants such as Google-owned Verily and smaller startups alike are chasing the same "real-world evidence" mandate — and scaling beyond niche rare-disease communities is notoriously tough.

The bottom line: Centering patients' lived experiences provides insights that electronic medical records alone can't provide.

"In a situation where you have a new sickle cell drug coming in front of the FDA and you can show your impact on pain crises and chronic pain flares, now we've got something," Meosky Luo says.

Exclusive: Folia Health inks $10.5M for disease tracking and pharma research

The Boston-based startup powers pharma studies and research.

Illustration of a woman in a hospital gown made from a one hundred dollar bill sitting on an examination bed.

Folia Health, a chronic disease tracking startup, raised a $10.5 million Series A, CEO Nell Meosky Luo tells Axios exclusively.Why it matters: Folia is trying to supply the high-quality datasets that pharmaceutical companies <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="desperately need" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/pro/health-tech-deals/2025/05/27/data-dealmaking-aetion-datavant" data-vars-content-id="8cf50d2e-654d-4075-b191-02723d5722fd" data-vars-headline="Exclusive: Folia Health inks $10.5M for disease tracking and pharma research" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/pro/health-tech-deals/2025/05/27/data-dealmaking-aetion-datavant" target="_self">desperately need</a>.

Exclusive: Folia Health inks $10.5M for disease tracking and pharma research

What to read next