PeakData, the AI platform that identifies and collates the most relevant and impactful healthcare professionals (HCPs) for pharmaceutical companies, has raised €12.1m (CHF 12m) in a Series A funding round led by AlbionVC and including Octopus Ventures and Heal Capital.
Christoph Schumacher, Zug
Key highlights:
- PeakData enables pharmaceutical companies to uncover the whole therapeutic area by mapping the healthcare professionals (HCPs) most relevant to their target market.
- This essential mapping of a much wider range of relevant HCPs means patients benefit from innovative new medicines more quickly and receive better treatment.
- Series A funding follows rapid 6x growth for the company over 2021, with the PeakData platform now being used by over half of Europe’s largest pharmaceutical companies.
Launched in 2018, PeakData enables pharmaceutical companies to enhance the depth and breadth of their customer base and learn more about HCPs that are most relevant to their target market, and in turn, ensure patients benefit from innovative new medicines much sooner.
With PeakData pharma companies can enhance the effectiveness of commercial and medical teams and, for the first time, uncover the whole HCP universe for any given therapeutic area to focus resources only on those HCPs that matter most.
The platform uses AI algorithms to rank these HCPs in terms of their digital impact, influence and relevance to their target market and uses dynamic data to observe changes in HCP status over time. This means that not only can pharma companies find and personalise their communications with the top-tier experts, as the market changes, but the platform also enables them to identify emerging influencers among local treating physicians who are managing patients on a daily basis and may previously not have been on their radar. This is crucial because it gives pharma companies the ability to focus their limited resources on those most relevant HCPs.
The Series A funding follows rapid 6x growth for the company in 2021. PeakData’s platform is now being used by over half of Europe’s largest pharmaceutical companies and the company has grown from 12 to 70 employees since 2021.
Life-saving treatments fueled by data
PeakData is the brainchild of data scientists Patrick De Boer and Michael Feldman. Driven by their passion to build a better future, Patrick and Michael realised that the healthcare industry was only scratching the surface when it came to the potential of AI to bring life-saving treatments to patients more quickly. The pair decided to use their data science background to improve healthcare outcomes by making sure that patients get the best treatments available, which eventually became PeakData.
Patrick De Boer, co-founder of PeakData, said: “We started PeakData after a dawning realisation that AI could help provide better patient outcomes. In order to ensure healthcare professionals are aware of the latest medicines, pharmaceutical companies must be provided with the latest data about them and their key focus areas. We see PeakData as filling a key gap in the way our customers receive and analyse this data in order to improve the conversations they are having with a much wider variety of HCPs in their area.
"Combining our AI approach and platform with the global presence of a number of pharmaceutical companies will have an immediate and long-term positive impact for our customers and the patients they serve. We’re delighted that Albion shares this vision and look forward to working with them in the future.”
AI to understand the thinking of much wider variety of healthcare professionals
PeakData’s team of data scientists have built a technology that is able to trawl through millions of digital records to find information about HCPs and map their professional interests as well as their connections to peers. What sets PeakData apart is the scope of this mapping, with up to 90% of HCPs in any therapeutic area covered, giving pharma companies much greater insight into all levels of healthcare provision. Similarly, new and emerging influencers are also much more easily uncovered with PeakData, as the platform gives users constant insights on digital activators - a practicing HCP who has a robust and established digital presence and actively shapes clinical opinion. As the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, it is critical for pharmaceutical companies to find and engage digital activators, so they can reach more healthcare professionals, earlier and quicker, and steepen the product adoption curve.
PeakData provides support to pharma companies throughout the lifecycle of their medicine, from giving them greater insight into their target market ahead of a medicine’s launch to then boosting the medicine’s growth through insights and information on a much larger potential customer base.
Customer-focused AI web platform
PeakData’s platform is fully customisable to the needs of each of its customers with tailored onboarding and training to support rapid deployment across a business. Customers interact with PeakData through a web-based platform that learns about their distinct needs and attempts to provide the most interesting insights depending on territory, drug market and background. While it is possible to search PeakData’s entire database, the platform has been designed to show customers exactly what they are looking for to ensure that people get a view for the things that they care about the most, based on where they are and what they do.
PeakData will use the funding to expand all aspects of the business to support their growth plans as well as continue to develop the platform. The company aims to have its platform used by the vast majority of pharmaceutical companies around the globe and in as many drug markets as possible in the next five years.
Christoph Ruedig, partner at AlbionVC, said: “When we first met Patrick, Michael and the team, we were impressed by their dedication, drive and determination to develop the best data AI platform in a healthcare setting. Finding the right therapeutic experts and healthcare professionals for their medicines is massively important for pharmaceutical companies and with PeakData they can now reach global, national, and local medical professionals who shape clinical decision-making. The potential for PeakData to help provide better patient outcomes and improve the decision-making of key healthcare professionals is very exciting and we’re pleased to be able to join the team on this journey.”