Kandu Health: A Stroke Focused Digital Health Company Leans Into Regulation
Author: Mary Stuart – MedTech Strategist | Published: April 5, 2023
In focusing on patients in their first 90 days following a stroke, Kandu Health aims to help a population with unrecognized medical and functional needs, and in so doing, improve patient outcomes and the economics for all constituents who bear the costs of post-stroke care. But unlike many digital health companies, Kandu Health believes it provides the greatest value by embracing, rather than avoiding health system regulations.
Until recently, Imperative Care might have been regarded as a medical device company singularly focused on developing thrombectomy treatments for acute ischemic stroke. Founded in 2016 by the serial medtech entrepreneur Fred Khosravi and Nick Hopkins, MD, a pioneer of endovascular treatments for stroke, the company developed the Zoom Stroke Solution, a next generation thrombectomy platform for faster and more effective clot removal. In 2021, the company's $260 million Series D round enabled it to acquire and continue to fund Truvic Medical, the developer of an alternative thrombectomy technology called Prodigy, which removes peripheral vascular thrombus by aspiration.
But the company's name always contained its broader vision for stroke care, for, as its website says, "reimagining the entire stroke continuum." The large Series D round also allowed it to launch a major initiative within that strategy. In February 2023 Imperative Care announced the formation of the digital health start-up Kandu Health, which is focused on delivering care to people affected by stroke while they are in their homes. The first commercial product is designed for the post-acute phase of
stroke, to improve what happens to people after they're discharged from the hospital.
Through this tech-enabled healthcare service, each stroke survivor is paired with a clinically-licensed Kandu Navigator, who guides them through the 90-day recovery program. Kirsten Carroll, an early employee of Imperative Care and now CEO of the majority-owned subsidiary, notes, "When I joined [Imperative Care] in 2017, thrombectomy was going through explosive growth, and there is still excitement because it is such an effective procedure for large vessel occlusion. But even then, we knew that beyond the plumbing of stroke, there was much that needed to be done for stroke patients."
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