Formerly called Google Life Sciences, healthcare data startup Verily has collared a billion dollars in a mega-funding round led by tech investment firm Silver Lake. No details were provided about the possible uses for the funds raised. Ruth Porat, CFO of google parent company Alphabet, will join the Verily board. Verily attracted $800 million in its first funding round two years ago.
Erin Brodwin reported on Verily for Business Insider:
A subgroup of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, Verily aims to develop tools that help collect and organize health data. Its list of semipublic projects include work on a miniaturized continuous glucose monitor with partner organization Dexcom, contact lenses for people with age-related farsightedness and for sight improvement after cataract surgery, and a watch that lets researchers collect data for clinical studies.
Verily researchers had also been working on a contact lens equipped with sensors to measure glucose levels for people with diabetes, but announced in November that they were pausing work on the initiative, which began in 2014 as a partnership with Alcon, the eye-care division of drug giant Novartis.
As part of the new funding, Ruth Porat, Alphabet’s chief financial officer, will be nominated to join Verily’s operating board. Egon Durban, the managing partner and managing director of Silver Lake, will also be nominated to join the board.
“Verily’s unique capabilities, world-class partnerships and bold vision are enabling the company to tackle the most significant problems impacting global healthcare,” Durban said in the statement.
