Kumanu Raises $3M in Series A funding to Expand its PurposeCloud™ Platform, address emerging health and wellbeing market needs

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Aug. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Kumanu, a next-generation wellbeing technology company, announced today that it has closed an A round of investment from ProMedica. The investment comes on the heels of a year in which Kumanu introduced its new brand, re-launched its AI-driven purpose activation platform, released its flagship application Purposeful by Kumanu™, grew revenues by over 500 percent, demonstrated impacts on purpose, resilience, and health care costs, and forged partnerships with leading technology companies, health care systems, universities, and Medicare plans.

Funds raised will be used to accelerate platform and market development around key areas of unmet need including mental and social wellbeing, Social Determinants of Health (SDOH), and the application of purpose science to promote pro-social behaviors related to inclusion and belonging.

ProMedica is a major nonprofit health system with 13 hospitals, more than 300 post-acute facilities, serving communities in 27 states, employing over 56,000, and contributing over $250 million in community benefit annually. The ProMedica Social Determinants of Health Institute has been a widely recognized national industry leader in addressing SDOH in clinical settings and communities for more than a decade.

"We are excited to collaborate with the Kumanu team to tackle the most pressing health barriers facing communities and employers today, including Social Determinants of Health," said Randy Oostra, president and chief executive officer of ProMedica, who joins Kumanu's board of directors. "Kumanu has developed a unique technology platform for scaling and sustaining positive change in health behaviors, and a seasoned team that perfectly complements our capabilities and culture. Kumanu's work in life purpose is a major new addition to our social determinants of health work, and it adds one more very important piece as we try to improve individuals' personal, social and economic factors."

Alongside the strategic investment, Kumanu and ProMedica will jointly develop unique solutions to intervene against risks driven by Social Determinants of Health — the social, economic, and environmental factors that impact health risks and outcomes. These risks include factors such as food insecurity, financial strain, housing, behavioral health, transportation, violence risks, and childcare. Taken together with behavior, these factors are estimated to influence 80 percent or more of health outcomes, an impact far higher than that of clinical care.

"We couldn't be more proud of our collaboration with ProMedica, or more grateful for its investment and confidence in our unique purpose-centered intervention capabilities," said Victor Strecher, PhD, MPH, founder and chief executive officer of Kumanu. "This partnership allows us to capitalize on complementary strengths and helps our client organizations achieve greater speed to impact in addressing difficult barriers to health and well-being within their employee populations and communities."

About Kumanu
Kumanu builds bigger lives, stronger organizations and healthier communities by creating better alignment with purpose. Organizations use Kumanu's PurposeCloud platform as a transformational and integrative element in their talent and wellbeing strategies. Purposeful by Kumanu, a brand-new kind of mobile app, fuses the latest neuroscience research with behavior design principles and machine learning to make it easier for individuals to be their best each day, increase resilience, and achieve enduring behavior change. The outcome: healthier, more purposeful organizations that produce better health, and better business results.

Brian McCormick
Director, Marketing and Business Development
734-822-6662

SOURCE Kumanu