Doximity gets $17M infusion for physician network

The Series B round brings Doximity's total raised to $27M

As a new parent, I’m terrified of the day my son breaks out in one of those crazy mystery rashes, and then I have to think on my feet to treat the symptoms and figure out what caused it in the first place.  For neurotic first-time moms like me, there are social networks like Circle of Moms where I can bounce my questions, concerns, and worst allergen-related nightmares off of other moms.  But for doctors—the people who are actually trained and paid to treat those issues—it’s harder to establish a network where you can get helpful information without violating HIPAA regulations.

Doximity is helping doctors get the help they need via a HIPAA-compliant social network just for physicians, and the company announced Wednesday that it has raised $17 million in a Series B round of funding led by Morgenthaler Ventures, with help from existing investors Emergence Capital Partners and InterWest Partners.  The new capital brings Doximity’s total raised to $27 million.

Since we last spoke with Doximity, the network has grown 15x and now serves one in every seven U.S. physicians.  When we last chatted with CEO Jeff Tangney last November, the social network was reaching 5% (or one in 20) of U.S. physicians.  Additionally, it has partnered with three of the top five medical schools in the country (UCSF, Stanford, and University of Pennsylvania) to create alumni networks.

Physicians in the network have created over two million colleague connections, and Tangney tells me that over 10,000 patient cases have been discussed.  That’s actually very comforting to hear, since doctors are human and can’t be expected to be stand-alone experts on every possible medical case put in front of them.  But physicians can’t discuss patient cases across traditional social networks, email, or text message, so that leaves few options for getting outside opinions.  Doximity does a three-step credential check to verify a physician’s identity and protect patient privacy.

Doximity is also helpful for finding specialists to refer patients to.  Physicians in the network do some 1,000 referral and expert searches every day via Doximity.

“We are thrilled to be working with the Doximity team,” said Rebecca Lynn of Morgenthaler Ventures, in a statement.  “We've built out an extensive thesis in Healthcare IT, and we chose to invest in Doximity because we believe the company is nearing a tipping point.  It is poised to transform a number of healthcare’s very large, inefficient markets by giving doctors innovative ways to network and share critical information.”

Venture capital funding for health IT reached $293 million in Q2 2012, according to Mercom Capital Group.  Rock Health recently reported that as of June 2012, $67 million has been invested in digital health startups--an increase of 75% over the same time period last year.