Nashville, Tenn.-based ConnectivHealth, an online health-information company, raised $2.1 million for acquisitions to expand its Web-based holdings. Funding was provided by Chrysalis Ventures, Petra Capital Partners, and ConnectivHealth CEO Scott McQuigg.
ConnectivHealth certainly makes for an odd-looking healthcare-information empire. Its initial holding was a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based site called VerusMed, formerly known as FaxWatch, which appears to send out pricey electronic newsletters to doctors and individuals (subscriptions start at $295 per reader). Last month, ConnectivHealth acquired Relegent, a Nashville company that runs two other narrowly defined sites -- HealthTeacher, which provides health-education curriculum information to teachers and home-schooling parents, and Discovery Hospital, a consumer-oriented medical-info portal designed for hospitals that's run as a joint venture with Discovery Communications.
At a time when VCs are throwing much larger sums at the likes of Healthline Networks, Healthcare.com and a host of other sites, it's not at all clear what an outfit like ConnectivHealth really hopes to add. But the Internet's a big place, and perhaps the niche approach the company is taking so far will pay off in time.