iDAvatars raising about $2 million
Summary
The avatars, which are built on IBMs Watson framework, use advanced technology such as natural language processing and can demonstrate human behaviors such as empathy.The companys intelligent digital interface, which patients can interact with online, is called Sophie. She talks to the patient, gathers information and analyzes it, then sends the report to the persons doctor.This new funding round is a debt offering of convertible promissory notes and associated warrants. So far, iDAvatars has raised about $409,000 from eight investors in this offering, said Norrie Daroga, founder and chief executive officer. It does not have a specific cap or close date.About a month ago, iDAvatars added two new products, used to help educate patients with chronic illnesses and to inform patients about advance directives with the avatars. Because of its recent growth and in anticipation of further hiring, iDAvatars recently moved from its 700-square-foot office to a larger, 3,000-square-foot office in the same Mequon building, Daroga said.We now have Anthem and United Healthcare as clients and we perform services for them in nine states, Daroga said.Last year, iDAvatars raised about $1.3 million to fund the acquisition of Colorado virtual assistant developer CodeBaby Corp.iDAvatars had about $1 million in revenue in 2016.Weve got highly customizable and very good quality animation now, so the next step is to continue with the artificial intelligence and natural language processing to understand people better, Daroga said.