With new funding, new leadership and a year of positive growth in the books, Reva Systems is entering the healthcare market on a high note.
The Chelmsford, Mass.-based developer of passive RFID systems debuted its new Reva-4-Healthcare package at last month’s HIMSS09 conference and show in Chicago, then followed that with the announcement of a new CEO and $5 million in new venture funding to kickstart growth in healthcare and other areas.
The company’s passive RFID system, which uses antennas instead of battery packs to track objects and people, has been designed to integrate with AeroScout’s MobileView RTLS (real time location system) track-and-trace application platform. The two companies had spent the last year fine-tuning the Reva-4-Healthcare package for its debut in Chicago.
“In the past 12 months, UHF RFID technology has matured to a standards-based, high-performance and cost-effective platform for a wide range of new track and trace applications,” said Ashley Stephenson, the company’s co-founder. “We see customers from many industries using the technology in innovative ways to improve both the top-line and bottom-line of their businesses, whether by driving additional revenues or improving efficiency.”
“Adoption of RTLS based solutions in hospitals has the potential to enhance clinical workflow, improve patient experience, help identify and minimize operational inefficiencies and deliver better asset management,” he said. “These benefits are expected to save hospitals millions of dollars in capital and operational expenditures, apart from significantly improving the quality and efficacy of patient care and safety.”
The $5 million in new funding was led by existing investors North Bridge Venture Partners and Charles River
Ventures, both of which have backed the company since its launch in 2004. At that time, Stephenson said, Reva focused on a wide range of industries, including food preparation, shipping and postal services.
In the past year, Reva has seen 43 percent growth, according to company officials. The company also recently announced its 500th customer site.
While active RFID systems rely on a battery pack roughly the size of a business card, passive systems rely only on antennas and can be much smaller. Stephenson sees the system being used to track patients and staff – through badges or wristbands – as well as equipment like gurneys, wheelchairs, fluid bags, medications and stents. The systems is run on what’s called Tag Acquisition Processor, or TAP, technology, run on a flexible application platform.
Stephenson foresees future uses for passive RFID systems in a healthcare setting in tracking specimen samples, blood bags and breast milk, as well as outpatient services. He also expects that the data gathered in the system can be used to analyze trends and improve clinical decision-making and financial operations.
“It’s not just tracking the wheelchair – it’s the richer set of information that you can derive online,” he added.
While Stephenson had been acting CEO, he ceded that position last month to new CEO Bruce Berger. Prior to joining Reva, Berger had served as president and CEO of Verrillon, Inc., a venture-backed specialty optical fiber company focused on applications in the oil and gas, military/avionics and industrial markets.
“It is great to see a start-up company’s first product achieve recognized success, as Reva’s TAP Appliance has done,” Berger said. “We have the potential to build a truly successful global company from this vantage point.”