Backed by Ochsner Health and Louisiana investors, the company aims to expand its cloud-based operating system for sleep medicine beyond its current regional footprint.
Key takeaways:
- SleepNavigator Inc raised its first round of funding from Ochsner Health, Boot 64 Ventures, and New Louisiana Angel Fund 3.
- The cloud-based SaaS platform connects physicians, sleep centers, DME providers, and patients to streamline workflows.
- Currently used in Louisiana and Texas, the system automates care journeys to reduce lost referrals and delays.
- The investment will support the national expansion of the technology to urban, suburban, and rural communities.
SleepNavigator Inc has raised its first round of funding from a coalition of statewide investors to scale its sleep medicine software across the United States. The investment round includes backing from Ochsner Health, Boot 64 Ventures, and New Louisiana Angel Fund 3.
The Louisiana-based company offers a cloud platform designed to address fragmentation in sleep medicine by connecting referring physicians, sleep centers, hospital systems, home sleep testing programs, DME and PAP providers, dentists, and patients within a single system.
“After more than thirty years running sleep centers, DME services, and full-service sleep management, I have seen the many ways this system can fail a patient,” says Lea Desmarteau, founder and CEO of SleepNavigator Inc, in a release. “Too many good people are working inside disjointed workflows. We built SleepNavigator to change that with real patients and real teams.”
The platform functions as an operating system for sleep medicine, automating workflows from the initial referral and scheduling through testing, scoring, interpretation, treatment, and long-term follow-up. By providing real-time views of each case to all stakeholders, the software aims to reduce delays, lower healthcare costs, and improve adherence to therapy.
SleepNavigator is currently in production with hospital programs, independent sleep labs, and treatment providers in Louisiana and Texas. According to the company, customers utilizing the platform have reported faster patient scheduling and reduced time to therapy.
The new capital positions the company to expand its reach nationally.
“Ochsner is proud to continue to support innovative companies across the state that will improve the experience of healthcare for all,” says Aimee Quirk, chief corporate development officer of Ochsner Health and CEO of Ochsner Ventures, in a release. “The Ochsner Louisiana Innovation Fund is a strong partnership between Ochsner and Louisiana Economic Development that finds high-quality companies like SleepNavigator and ensures they can continue to grow and stay in Louisiana.”
Prior to this funding round, SleepNavigator received support from the Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program at BRF to prepare for investment.
“In health care, innovation only matters if it reaches people,” says Desmarteau in a release. “Our mission is to make it much easier for every person who is referred for sleep evaluation to actually get tested, treated, and sleep better. This round lets us scale that mission from Louisiana to urban, suburban, and rural communities across the country.”
