A Cambridge company focusing on business-to-consumer health care has launched a campaign to raise $10 million so it can continue its growth as a "content-deep" Web resource.
MedBeat Inc. was founded in 1998, and has been funded by health titans Genzyme and Smith and Nephew. Now it is targeting the venture and angel markets so it can grow as fast as competitors such as drkoop.com, mediconsult and WebMD.
"We're sending out in-depth documents to many different investors," said Christopher Messina, company president. "We know we have to start scaling, so we can interest more customers and consumers.
"People say that the (Net-based) medical field is crowded, but we don't agree. For a $1 trillion industry, it's amazingly empty."
MedBeat's website is found at www.body1.com. Company officials say it differs from its well-publicized competitors by developing mini-sites that focus on a specific disease or body part.
For instance, it recently launched "knee1" on the site. This sector contains a broad array of information about knees, from football players talking about injuries to doctors explaining cartilage reconstruction.
Knee1 is interactive, so that consumers with knee concerns can discuss their individual situations.
"We're creating knowledge cooperatives," Messina said. "We want to empower users so they know more about the health issues that concern them."
Messina said he got his start in the computer world at Hewlett-Packard, where he was a national sales representative. In recent years he served as president and chief executive officer of General Orthopedics Inc., a Cambridge health-services company that has since moved to Billerica.
Exposure to these disparate fields contributed to his belief that an on-line site addressing health concerns would be successful in both a business-to-business and business-to-consumer segment.
"About five years ago I looked into 800-phone numbers as a way to distribute health information," said Messina, a 1988 graduate of Harvard Business School.
"When the Web began to develop, sites like drkoop.com and WebMD appeared, but they all seemed to be the same. We provide depth and interactivity."
In addition to focusing on a given health community, body1.com offers content on health news, advice from specific doctors, and it profiles "health-care heroes." The site has links to key government databases, and offers health links in Spanish.
Revenue for the 10-employee company has thus far come from Genzyme and Smith and Nephew, but company officials say that they can bring in more major corporations once they have closed on funding.
"We've had great response without an off-line campaign," Messina said. "We put up our knee1 site only six weeks ago, but it's getting about 1,000 (distinct) visitors per day.
"We're stressing getting the smartest people, the best content and the most interactivity. With the talent in this area, I think we're creating a very valuable site."
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved. Mass High Tech 2000.
