Comprehend Systems closes $1.2 million seed round funding

Driven by increasing demand from drug and medical device developers for cost-effective and user-friendly data analytics tools, Comprehend Systems, Inc. closed $1.2 million in seed round funding to support further development of Comprehend Clinical™, its clinical data visualization and analytics software. The round included contributions from Y Combinator, Start Fund, SV Angel, Yuri Milner, Menlo Ventures Talent Fund, Paul Buchheit, Garry Tan, Quotidian Ventures and Crosslink Capital, as well as a range of other angel investors with clinical research and enterprise sales expertise.

"The application of business informatics and analytics is relatively new to clinical research, and the visualization and reporting tools available today are either cumbersome and costly to implement or not tailored to meet the needs of this industry, which comes with complex regulatory requirements," said Rich Enz, investor and advisor. "Backed by decades of experience in clinical research, Comprehend is working to fill a critical market need for customized tools that easily work with existing systems and enable sponsors to be more effective and strategic with their clinical data."

Comprehend Systems was founded in 2010 with a mission to improve the way clinical research sponsors access, understand, explore and analyze data. The company has already filed multiple patents for its technology. Its first software product, Comprehend Clinical™, easily integrates study data from any source - from electronic data capture (EDC), to safety, to clinical trial management systems (CTMS) - into one visualization and analytics platform. Designed specifically for clinical researchers, the tool enables data managers, monitors and clinical operations executives to identify broad operational and clinical trends across trials and also easily drill down and report on a wide range of factors, including safety issues, regulatory requirements and opportunities for critical time and cost savings. Features include simple drag-and-drop ad-hoc reporting, elegant and powerful dashboards, and intelligent drilldown.

"The pharmaceutical industry has invested billions of dollars in technologies to collect and protect their clinical data - one of their most vital assets. But while tools like EDC and CTMS have matured, and CROs have become technology-savvy, sponsors still struggle to maximize the value of all that data in an easy, cost-effective way that enables them to make smarter, faster decisions about their clinical trials," said Rick Morrison, CEO of Comprehend Systems. "As we move into our next stage of growth, we're looking to continue to build momentum around our solution and work with sponsors and CROs to put data from across the clinical trial process at their fingertips."

After beta-testing with pharmaceutical companies and academic research organizations, Comprehend will use this round of funding to introduce new features and functionality based on customer feedback. Comprehend also recently secured several advisory board members who will play a key role in driving corporate, product and sales strategy, including:

• Marc Abramowitz, private investor with extensive experience in the health care services and device industry;
• Rich Enz, over 30 years clinical software development experience;
• Alex Sefanov, founder and CEO of life sciences IT consulting company BioPharm Systems;
• Kirill Sheynkman, Managing Director of RTP Ventures, three-time founder and CEO of software companies including Plumtree Software and Elastra; and
• Garry Tan, co-founder of Posterous and venture partner at Y Combinator.