New York City-based Kinsa Health has raised $9.6 million in a round led by Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers for its FDA-cleared smartphone-connected thermometer. Other investors in the round include FirstMark Capital and Andy Palmer. This brings the company’s total funding to at least $11.6 million.
Kinsa’s thermometer, which was cleared in January, connects to a smartphone via the headphone jack. The thermometer can be used orally, under-arm, or rectally. Data from the device is sent to a companion app, which records the user’s temperature, when the temperature was taken, and other data about how the user is feeling. For children, the app also uses the smartphone’s display screen to offer animated visuals throughout a temperature reading in order to calm, distract, and engage kids.
The company also hopes to use the thermometer as an entry point to create a realtime health map that tracks the spread of disease. The app will supplement the data it generates with public third party data, like data from the CDC, and data from private data partners.
Last week, Kinsa announced that its device is now available at CVS and Apple Stores across the US as well as online at Amazon, Apple.com, and Kinsa’s website. Although Kinsa is now available in Apple stores, the company has not yet integrated the device with HealthKit, Apple’s health platform.
At the time, Kinsa CEO Inder Singh told MobiHealthNews in an email that the company eventually plans to.
“We are eager to integrate with HealthKit,” Singh said. “Our plan is to integrate early next year, pending some further inputs related to medical device regulations.”
While Kinsa charged its private beta users a $14.99 price point for its device in the spring, it is retailing for $29.99.
