Introducing our first investment
by Cheryl Cheng
Seven years ago, I was honored to join the board of The Ronald McDonald House at Stanford. I had a front row seat to the incredible impact of pediatric hospitals, but I also noticed opportunities to improve patient outcomes. For example, despite the amazing care that health systems, doctors and nurses provide, it isn’t always easy to monitor and support pediatric patients who require continuous care due to chronic health conditions. In the US alone, there are an estimated 19 million children who need continuous care and the number of children affected by these conditions – especially diabetes – has risen by 12% since 2007. The associated costs of care for these conditions already totals $340B in annual spend.
Earlier this year, I partnered with Clearlake Capital to establish a new platform focused on backing and building innovative digital health companies. Given my experiences on the board of The Ronald McDonald house, I was painfully aware that pediatrics was an underfunded area. In adult health, remote patient monitoring tools are becoming more mainstream and proving effective in managing chronic conditions. I started looking for solutions in pediatric care and for founders that felt as passionately about solving these problems as I did.
Enter Kiddo from Good Parents, Inc. Kiddo is a pediatric remote patient monitoring (RPM) solution for children with chronic conditions. It includes a mobile app for parents and clinical decision support for physicians and care teams. Initially focused on asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular and autism, Kiddo’s RPM system provides insight for caregivers and providers to help them monitor and manage these chronic conditions. What makes the Kiddo platform and opportunity so special?
Kiddo’s full-stack solution collects objective biometric data along with patient-reported symptoms and outcomes. Bringing persistent data and transparency to providers and caregivers improves the quality of care that children receive. Data is key and RPM systems provide a level of data granularity that enables more personalized recommendations and care pathways. RPM solutions are also foundational to better care delivery in the home which is a superior patient experience and research has shown leads to better health outcomes.
Kiddo’s platform works across multiple indication areas starting with asthma, diabetes, congenital heart disease and autism. Starting with the most prevalent childhood chronic conditions, Kiddo is already addressing a large swath of pediatric care and the interactions between some of these conditions.
Managing pediatric chronic conditions have a long term positive impact on adult health. Some of the most prevalent and costly adult chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease can be prevented with better childhood health management. Kiddo not only addresses chronic conditions for children today but also changes the trajectory of adult health. Pediatrics is a historically underinvested category but we recognize the growing need for solutions.
We are so excited to support CJ, Rishi and the team at Good Parents, Inc. to bring Kiddo to all children with chronic conditions.
As a parent, I can think of nothing better than helping my children understand and manage their health now and for the future.
As an investor, I am honored, humbled, and energized to be a part of changing healthcare for millions of children and furthering medicine for pediatrics.
Here we go!
Cheryl