BOSTON, Oct. 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Folia Health, the patient-driven health company and pioneer of home-reported outcomes (HROs), committed to transforming lived experiences into structured data insights to advance research and personalized care, today announced the close of a $10.5 million in Series A funding round led by S3 Ventures, alongside longtime partner Crosslink Capital and specialist fund Create Health Ventures. The investment will enable the company to double down on its mission to put power in the hands of patients, whose firsthand experiences with chronic and rare conditions make them valuable — and underutilized — healthcare experts.

Folia's platform enables individuals to track symptoms, treatments, and outcomes, and share them with unprecedented control. The company’s commitment to consent and radical transparency means that any data used for external research requires explicit consent, participants can see exactly how their information is being used and what is being learned through detailed Participant Reports, and can withdraw participation at any time. Folia also recognizes participants for their contributions to research studies through its revenue-sharing program, Data Dividends.

“This funding is an affirmation of our fierce dedication to making patient-focused healthcare a reality. Instead of trying to fix the system from the outside in, we’ve built Folia to harness the power of each individual patient — to make their healthcare make sense,” said company founder and CEO Nell Meosky Luo. “People live in their bodies 24/7 — they notice patterns, track what works, spot when something's off. Your own insights reveal your most burdensome symptoms, how different treatments and other things you’re trying are working for you; and also, the massive difference it can make when your treatments are working well. The knowledge held by each of our participants fills crucial knowledge gaps in traditional health data, which focuses on what happens when you’re at the clinic.”

By providing a platform giving direct value to patients, Folia Health’s approach generates high-quality, longitudinal real-world evidence (RWE) for researchers. This has informed FDA discussions and treatment guidelines, led to partnerships with leading life science companies, and generated research-grade data across conditions that have a major impact on peoples’ lives, including lupus, sickle cell disease, eczema, and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). Other Folia Health initiatives include:

• active studies across multiple rare kidney diseases in partnership with a major life science organization
• a national study on the impact of Trikafta in cystic fibrosis
• the first app-based, remote study capturing daily experiences of people with IgA nephropathy
• longitudinal research in sickle cell disease that addresses healthcare disparities and pain management challenges
  
  

Brian R. Smith, Managing Director at S3 Ventures, adds: “Folia is a validated research platform redefining how we understand chronic and rare diseases. Nearly a decade of peer-reviewed research positions Folia as the gold standard for patient-driven real-world evidence, and we are thrilled to support their growth across new conditions and partnerships.”

With the inevitable shift toward using AI tools to make personal health decisions, data based on real experiences is the foundation that is necessary for AI models to accurately reflect individuals’ unique health journeys. “What gets lost in the excitement over the power of AI is the fact that these new technologies require the right data to give us insights that are meaningful and useful,” said Dan Toffling, co-founder and CTO of Folia Health. “Right now we’re dependent on incomplete and skewed datasets, typically information that’s collected a few days out of the year during brief interactions with clinicians. In other words, would you want all your health decisions to be based solely on what’s in your doctor’s notes in your EHR?”

The funding announcement follows Folia’s recent launch of Mosaic, a community insights research initiative that enables participants to ask questions and get answers based on aggregated data from others with similar conditions. The program is currently active for users with eczema and PNH, with plans to expand to lupus and sickle cell disease in 2026.

About Folia Health
Folia Health is a patient-led health company and the pioneer of home-reported outcomes (HROs), transforming lived health experiences into valuable structured data insights to advance research and personalized care. The company's platform is built on the belief that the knowledge of patients and caregivers is the missing piece to enable precise, individualized care and high-impact research. Through a useful platform, radical transparency, explicit consent protocols, and data dividend payments, Folia bridges the gap between patients, clinicians, and researchers while maintaining the highest standards of data privacy and patient autonomy. Founded in 2016 by family caregivers and based in Boston, Folia works with individuals across chronic and rare conditions to generate clinical-grade real-world evidence. For more information, visit www.foliahealth.com.

About S3 Ventures
Founded in 2005, S3 Ventures is one of the largest and longest-serving venture capital firms in Texas. Backed by a philanthropic family with a multi-billion-dollar foundation, they empower visionary founders with the patient capital and true resources required to grow extraordinary, high-impact companies in Business Technology, Digital Experiences, and Healthcare Technology. With $900M+ in assets under management, they lead Seed, Series A, and Series B investments ranging from $500K to $10M with the capacity to invest $20M+ over the lifetime of a company. To learn more, visit www.s3vc.com.

Contact
For more information, please contact press@foliahealth.com.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1d8a0456-c25c-4a2d-aa6c-f074e92ee71b