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Imprivata CEO Gus Malezis tells Sarah he believes his Thoma Bravo-backed company is building out an essential digital identity technology framework for health care.    

Why it matters: Doctors and nurses need access to hundreds of applications to care for patients, but patient privacy laws and cybersecurity threats make that increasingly complex. 

At ViVE Miami, Malezis said more organizations are starting to pay attention to this “massive issue” after they've gone through EHR implementation.

“Quite often EHR/EMR has multiple gates of login,” Malezis says. “It’s hundreds of times you have to log in within a shift.”

How it works: Imprivata’s tools allow health care workers — in patient rooms and at nursing stations — access to a constellation of applications using a single sign-on, either via a finger or badge tap.   

That restores roughly 30 to 45 minutes of a daily shift back to every provider, Malezis says.

Users of course like this, and from an organizational standpoint, it helps reduce burnout while ideally increasing productivity. 

Yes, and: The Lexington, Massachusetts-based company has been on investors' M&A watch lists for some time. 

Two years ago, sellers, including Imprivata, postponed sale processes (many indefinitely) as investors and execs hashed out the severity of COVID-19 impacts on financial markets. 

Malezis says the decision to step back let Imprivata develop its vision and focus on company operations, employees and customers.

Before pressing pause, Imprivata was anticipated to price at north of $2 billion based upon approximately $140 million of estimated 2020 EBITDA, Sarah wrote then.

Fast forward: Imprivata now generates $180 million of EBITDA on approximately $330 million of revenue, with the top line trending toward $400 million-plus its current fiscal year, the CEO says.

Its February agreement to buy SecureLink will bring the next phase of growth, or what Malezis likes to call "Imprivata 3.0." 

SecureLink provides appropriate access for nonemployee, third-party vendors at hospitals that are accessing devices like an MRI machine. 

Reality check: With more provider access, you’re also giving the bad actors more of a surface area to attack. 

“As we elevate access we also have to think about how we strengthen cyber controls,” Malezis says, acknowledging that threats have escalated by at least 50% to 60% over the last 24 months.  

Insurance providers have also become incredibly more demanding, he says, "because of the advent of heavy ransomware and the expense of recovering those systems and the expense of recovering [from] general hacks." 

The bottom line: As Imprivata executes its vision of making provider access “efficient, simple and invisible,” it's likely reaching a scale that ought to draw attention from large buyout funds, strategics or secondary investors. 

The CEO declined to say when Imprivata might return to the auction block but says the opportunity to consolidate the market's fragmented set of tools remains vast.

🔐 1 big thing: Imprivata unlocks provider access

Photo illustration of Gus Malezis, CEO of Imprivata, and a digital fingerprint.

Photo illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios. Photo: courtesy of Imprivata

San Francisco-based Avive Solutions, a developer of remote cardiac arrest treatments, raised $22 million in Series A financing led by Questa Capital, Catalyst Health Ventures and Laerdal Million Lives Fund.

Why it's the BFD: Funds are flowing into digital health tools for heart conditions, from remote monitoring startup Story Health to Cleerly.

How it works: Avive aims to decrease the time it takes to get treatment and increase survival rates.

The company is building a connected automated external defibrillator and emergency response software platform that connects with 911 emergency centers through a partnership with RapidSOS, which provides 911 and first responders with data on health emergencies.

Avive's defibrillators are designed to audibly alert and display a map to help send bystanders to the location of someone experiencing cardiac arrest. 

Yes, but: The devices are currently undergoing FDA review and are not yet commercially available in the U.S.

Details: Questa Capital founder and managing partner Ryan Drant and Catalyst managing partner Darshana Zaveri joined Avive’s board as part of the raise.

2. The BFD: Staying Avive for $22M

Illustration of a hand putting a coin into a heart through a slot. 

Whether fluffy, sparkly, soft and squishy or shiny and towering — animal mascots abounded at this year's HIMSS conference in Orlando, Floria, Erin reports.

Why it matters: In many cases, the creatures' backstories croak or growl a compelling narrative about the companies they represent.

Be smart: From a plush, sequined hoodie-endowed unicorn to a tiny striped zebra, the mascots were either being showered upon attendees as giveaways or positioned to greet passersby at the entrances of exhibitor booths.

Bandwidth (Nasdaq: BAND) gave away squishy unicorns to represent telephony, or what it calls "tele-pony," global lead development representative Mackenzie Melton tells Erin.

Zebra (Nasdaq: ZBRA) gave away tiny soft zebras as a call back to its invention of the world's first printer of black-and-white barcodes, says senior sales engineer Hector Meza. Today, those barcodes are used on hospital wristbands and more to track patients and devices.

Health Gorilla gave away rubber gorillas — representing its ability to go against the grain — that double as smartphone holders.

Bamboo Health gave away bamboo pens. Bamboo grows in networks, chief executive Rob Cohen tells Erin, and gets stronger as it blossoms.

3. 🐻 Animals abound at HIMSS22

Avive Solutions, an SF-based connected response platform for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, raised $22m in Series A funding from Questa Capital, Catalyst Health Ventures and Laerdal Million Lives Fund. http://axios.link/NZqw

Curiox Biosystems, a Woburn, Mass.-based biological sample prep automation company, raised $15m in Series C funding. Luha Private Equity led, and was joined by KB Investment Co. and Quad Investment Management. www.curiox.com 

Canopy, a Palo Alto-based oncology care startup, raised $13m. GSR Ventures led, and was joined by Samsung Next and UpWest. www.canopycare.us

Nectar, the maker of a digital allergy care platform, raised $8m in seed funding led by Juxtapose and Obvious Ventures. Nectar will be the consumer-facing brand of Nectar Life Sciences, an allergy-focused health care holding company.

Biocogniv, a Burlington, Vermont-based startup using AI for sepsis care, raised $6m in seed funding led by Breyer Capital with participation from Y Combinator, 1984 Ventures, and others, along with individual investors including Boston Scientific co-founder John Abele, former IBM CEO Sam Palmisano, former LabCorp EVP, CMO and CSO Myla Lai-Goldman, former Paige.AI CEO Leo Grady, and Syapse founder and former president Jonathan Hirsch. As part of the round, Lai-Goldman, Grady and Hirsch will join Biocogniv’s board.

White Oak Healthcare Finance was the sole lender and administrative agent for a $395 million senior credit facility to Genesis Healthcare, a holding company for short-term post-acute, rehabilitation, skilled nursing and long-term care services. https://www.genesishcc.com/

Circle Cardiovascular Imaging, a leading provider of AI-based cardiac imaging and reporting solutions, announced a strategic growth investment from Thoma Bravo. www.circlecvi.com

Gilde Healthcare, a Dutch PE firm, raised €517 for its fourth fund. http://axios.link/laPT

ProPharma Group, a portfolio company of Odyssey Investment Partners, acquired M Squared Associates, a clinical, regulatory and quality consulting firm serving the medical device and diagnostic industry. 

4. Deals o' the day

🍀 Happy St. Patrick's Day, Health Tech fanatics! 

🍀 Who has more Irish in them — Sarah or Erin? Take a guess and we'll let you know tomorrow.

❤️ Thanks for reading Axios Pro Health Tech! Please ask your friends, colleagues and spring ski crew to sign up.

March 17, 2022

🔐 1 big thing: Imprivata unlocks provider access