Patient-controlled health data startup Novellia Inc. today announced it has raised $18 million in Series A funding to scale up a platform that lets patients consolidate their medical records and choose to share them with drug companies for research.

The company also announced the launch of a patient-facing mobile app.

Novellia operates what it calls the only real-world data company built entirely on information patients elect to contribute, positioning itself against third-party data brokers that assemble research datasets from insurance claims and hospital records. It says the current model leaves the patient out of the equation despite a market that runs above $50 billion a year.

Novellia’s platform pulls together as much as 20 years of medical history from disparate hospital systems, doctors’ offices and labs across the U.S. in under 30 seconds. The company says the tool is particularly aimed at people managing serious or complex conditions, who typically spend hours chasing down records and repeating their histories to new providers.

Once records are consolidated, Novellia applies natural language processing models to extract structured signals from unstructured clinical text, including physician notes, lab narratives and diagnostic reports. The company says that material is often the richest layer of a medical record and the hardest for existing data vendors to access. The output is de-identified into datasets that pharmaceutical companies use for research.

Novellia counts several of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies and a number of early-stage diagnostics firms among its customers. According to the company, it has signed seven-figure, multiyear contracts with some of the largest drugmakers in the world since the Series A closed.

“Behind every patient is a fragmented, incomplete record of their life,” said co-founder and Chief Executive Shashi Shankar. “I watched this up close: first through my grandfather’s cancer journey and then professionally in pharma, where we were developing therapies without ever seeing the full picture.”

The newly launched mobile app extends Novellia’s existing web platform, giving individuals a free way to access and organize their full health history from a phone. The company has cited research showing close to 70% of patients are willing to contribute data for medical research if they are given control, transparency and privacy protections.

The Series A was led by Spark Capital, with participation from Khosla Ventures, Acrew Capital, Bling Capital and TMV. “For a long time, I looked for a company like Novellia,” said Alex Finkelstein, general partner at Spark Capital. “Shashi understood the problem firsthand and built the solution that benefits patients and research.”

Novellia is based in New York. The new round takes its total funding to $28 million.

Image: Novellia