Welltok acquires Silverlink and raises $45m in funding
Health management provider, Welltok has acquired Silverlink, a healthcare messaging tool that allows large healthcare providers such as health plans, governments, insurers and large employers to communicate with their patients via email, web, mobile, text, automated voice, or direct mail. The company utilises behavioural science to work out which medium and message works best to retain patient engagement. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. In addition to the acquisition, Welltok has raised $45m to support the deal from Georgian Partners, EDBI, and Flare Capital. 

Denver, Colorado-based health management company Welltok has acquired Burlington, Massachusetts-based Silverlink, which offers a tool that healthcare organizations can use to create messaging campaigns for consumers. Welltok also raised $45 million to support part of the acquisition from Georgian Partners, EDBI, and Flare Capital. This brings Welltok's total funding to at least $139 million.

Silverlink has raised at least $20.6 million to date.

Welltok plans to use Silverlink’s offering to help its customers, including health plans, at-risk providers, government programs, and large employers, to communicate with consumers on an personal level. Silverlink's technology allows healthcare organizations to send messages via email, web, mobile, text, automated voice, or direct mail. The company uses behavior science and consumer marketing to figure out which messages and channels work best for users so that consumers are more receptive to the messages.

“We are excited that Silverlink is joining the Welltok family to further extend the capabilities and reach of our powerful platform,” Welltok CEO Jeff Margolis said in a statement. “For more than 10 years, Silverlink has set the standard in reaching and communicating with healthcare consumers in a thoughtful, highly-personalized way. Their ability to identify the most effective communication channels and engage individuals online or offline ensures that we can meet consumers wherever, whenever.”

This is at least the third acquisition that Welltok made this year to build out the CafeWell Health Optimization Platform. In October, Welltok acquired kids’ activity tracking platform Zamzee, which formerly spun out of Redwood City, California-based nonprofit HopeLab. The acquisition was meant to make the platform more attractive to families.

In May, Welltok acquired Predilytics, a Burlington, Massachusetts-based predictive analytics company. Welltok said it planned to incorporate Predilytics’ engine into CafeWell, to help health plans, at-risk providers, and other population health managers better understand and anticipate the needs of their patient populations. Welltok raised $21 million in additional funding that month to help fund this acquisition.

Prior to this year, the company also acquired wellness app maker Mindbloom and incentive management program IncentOne.

Earlier this year, Welltok disclosed its 2014 revenue for Inc Magazine's annual fastest growing private companies in America list. The company's revenue, which grew more than 1,800 percent in the past three years, reached $10.1 million. Welltok also added 189 of its 210 employees during that time.

Silverlink has previously partnered with Aetna, in 2011, to launch of a text-based (SMS) service for members with diabetes to help them better manage their condition. Aetna members who opted to participate in the program received educational texts and SMS reminders about screenings as well as tests.