Cognoa Raises $11.6 Million, Reaching More Than $20 Million Invested to Advance Earlier Diagnosis of Developmental Delays in Children

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - Mar 28, 2017) -  Cognoa, a digital health company revolutionizing how children with developmental delays are diagnosed and supported, today announces $11.6 million in additional funding. Since the company's founding in 2013, Cognoa has raised a total of more than $20 million. The new funding, provided by existing investor Morningside, is being used to advance Cognoa's machine-learning-based technology; support additional clinical validation and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) submissions and approvals process; and expand commercialization with employers, payers and clinicians.

There is a systematic problem documented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other institutions: fewer than half of children receive developmental assessments when concerns of autism are first identified. Cognoa is the first company of its kind to help parents and doctors address this issue by using patient reported outcomes (PROs) and machine learning to provide clinically-validated assessments for child development and behavioral health; this enables earlier diagnosis, more effective interventions and better outcomes for children with developmental delays.

"The trend of using PROs and machine learning to provide diagnoses has grown exponentially in the healthcare field, and Cognoa is a leader in the area of assessments for developmental and behavioral conditions," said Isaac Cheng, MD, of Morningside. "We believe Cognoa can significantly improve the standard of care for child behavioral development and are committed to supporting the clinical validation and FDA approval of the first machine learning-based diagnostic for early diagnosis of developmental delays."

Originally developed at Harvard and Stanford's medical schools, Cognoa's assessment utilizes information and videos provided by parents of the child's natural behavior at home. The company has completed clinical validation studies with multiple leading clinical centers, and its assessment app has been trusted by 300,000 families. Cognoa's current app provides a detailed evaluation, identifying whether a child is at risk for developmental delays, such as autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or providing peace of mind if a child is on track. Further studies conducted by Cognoa in clinical settings in 2016 demonstrate the promise of Cognoa's machine learning approach to continue to "learn" how to better identify autism and other developmental and behavioral disorders.

"Our goal is to improve families' lives while supporting clinicians by enabling earlier diagnosis and improved outcomes for children," said Brent Vaughan, CEO of Cognoa. "Cognoa's next phase of growth will involve not only engaging in additional clinical validation and pursuing FDA approvals, but also working with employers and health plans to offer our clinically-validated assessment and child development support platform to employers to support their parents in the workplace."

Cognoa recently launched Cognoa for Employers, which provides working parents with peace of mind, increased productivity and lower healthcare costs through earlier detection of child developmental delays and milestone support and tracking. Cognoa for Employers easily fits into current healthcare platforms. To learn more about the science behind the program and receive a 15-minute demo, please visit https://www.cognoa.com/employers.

About Cognoa:
Cognoa leverages machine learning and patient reported outcomes to revolutionize how parents and clinicians screen and support child development. Cognoa gives parents peace of mind and helps them take the right action at the right time to best support their child's development. Cognoa's assessment has been used by 300,000 families and has been validated in multiple scientific clinical studies. It is based on more than five years of clinical research and validation studies led by Dennis Wall, PhD, at prominent institutions including Harvard Medical School and Stanford Medical School.

About Morningside
Founded in Boston 30 years ago, Morningside is an active investor in venture-backed biotechnology start-ups. Licensing intellectual property from universities and research institutions, Morningside works with both academics and industry professionals to bring scientific discoveries into the clinic. The firm invests in novel therapeutic, diagnostics, and medical devices across many disease areas. For more information, visit www.morningside.com.