France-based startup Synapse Medicine raises $8M to prevent drug-related risks and grow its medication intelligence platform

Taking medication comes with certain risks: the recent controversy surrounding hydroxychloroquine has made this clear once again. More generally, drugs are responsible for 130,000 hospitalizations and 30,000 deaths annually in countries such as France. That is the equivalent to the death toll and hospitalization numbers of the COVID-19 epidemic occurring every year in the country. Enter Synapse Medicine, a Bordeaux, France-based health tech startup on a mission to provide everyone who needs it with easy access to reliable and up-to-date medical information.

Today, Synapse Medicine announced it has raised $8 million to continue the development of its leading-edge medication intelligence platform, which is already being used by thousands of healthcare professionals and patients daily. The round was led by the MACSF, a leading insurance provider for healthcare professionals, with participation from XAnge, BNP Paribas, BPI, and Nicolas Dessaigne, co-founder of Algolia. The latest round brings the company’s total funding to $11 million.

Founded in 2017 by two medical doctors and an engineer, Synapse Medicine works together with several major university hospitals to provide everyone who needs it with easy access to reliable and up-to-date medical information. The startup has developed the first medication intelligence platform dedicated to correct drug use. Setting benchmarks in this category, its fully independent solution is currently being used by thousands of healthcare professionals, medical students, and the general public.

Via its SaaS platform, Synapse Medicine offers healthcare professionals such as doctors and pharmacists an easy way to look up reliable, up-to-date information about medications, to analyze prescriptions in real-time, and to ensure the safety of drug therapies. Key benefits include a guarantee that the information provided is free of fake news, as well as increased safety and time savings for healthcare professionals. The company, which has set itself the mission to provide reliable and up-to-date medical information to everyone who needs it, has also developed a dedicated version of its offering for the general public. This solution has already been directly integrated into other services such as telemedicine platforms.

The telemedicine sector is growing fast. According to a recent study by the consultancy McKinsey & Company, 20% of healthcare services will be provided virtually in the United States in 2020 which is expected to reach 250 billion dollars. These figures show that telemedicine is being widely adopted everywhere in the world, which means that the ability for those stakeholders to warrant the safety of prescriptions has now become essential.

With this new funding round, Synapse Medicine intends to strengthen its leadership position in the field of prescription aids for telemedicine platforms globally. Its solution allows telemedicine companies to enhance their platforms with the integration of a turnkey prescription solution that ensures the safety of prescriptions, thereby helping them to attract and retain both physicians and patients.

“As an insurance provider for healthcare professionals, MACSF believes the innovations offered by Synapse Medicine are of the utmost importance in terms of preventing the risks linked to medication intake. Founded by two doctors and supported by a strong multidisciplinary team with international ambitions, with a leadership position and highly innovative technology on the dynamic telemedicine and prescription tool markets, Synapse Medicine has everything it takes to become a global health tech champion in the next few years. That is why MACSF has been very happy to lead this funding round alongside XAnge and BNP Paribas, and to support the further development of this start-up company that uses artificial intelligence to enable better healthcare,” said Stanislas Subra, head of venture capital investments at MACSF.

“Since the creation of Synapse Medicine, our mission has always been to provide everyone, everywhere in the world, with easy access to reliable and up-to-date medical information. This new funding round will allow us to move faster going forward and to bring Synapse within reach of anyone who needs it. 2020 has been marked by an unprecedented health crisis. However, hundreds of millions of people need our technology not just now, but every year that goes by. Time is of the essence here,” commented Dr. Clement Goehrs, CEO and co-founder of Synapse Medicine.