Greenlight Ventures, a healthcare venture platform based in Wilmington, recently entered into a strategic partnership with Houston-based Nexalin Technology (NXL), a non-invasive medical device company. 

The partnership follows Nexalin’s acquisition of PONM, a digital health platform, from Greenlight Ventures in a $1.3 million stock transaction. 

According to Reynold Yordy, co-founder and chief technology officer at Greenlight, the stock transaction allowed Nexalin and Greenlight to continue their partnership, with Nexalin gaining access to Greenlight’s development capabilities and intellectual property, while Greenlight becomes an equity holder in Nexalin. 

“We’re not infinitely scalable,” said Yordy. “One of the ways that we can scale beyond was to find a strategic partner that we really thought had some innovative approaches, but that also needed our IP to grow another business that we wouldn’t have time to be able to do internally.” 

Nexalin, which develops technology to address the root causes of anxiety and insomnia, used Greenlight’s digital health platform, PONM, to support its HALO Clarity program. The program, intended to treat mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, was deployed at the University of California, San Diego, following Institutional Review Board approval. 

“This acquisition gives Nexalin ownership of a critical part of the HALO Clarity ecosystem: the digital platform that connects the device, the patient, the physician and the clinical-data workflow,” said Mark White, chief executive officer of Nexalin, in a press release. “By bringing this infrastructure under Nexalin ownership, we are strengthening our ability to execute through pivotal trial activities, planned FDA submission and potential commercial launch.”

Keith Markfield, partner and chief architect, describes Greenlight’s approach as “hands-on.” Unlike a traditional venture capital model, Greenlight works alongside prospective companies to build solution-oriented software, which launches on Greenlight’s platform. 

The firm offers platform technology, development resources, in-house legal counsel, marketing and operational support; according to Yordy, there is “very little” it outsources when working with a startup.

“Greenlight is probably best described as a healthcare startup studio, where we're helping to build, validate, and move companies toward a successful exit,” said Markfield, “rather than coming in just investing money and trying to scale it in a private equity type of model."

Founded in 2017, Greenlight emerged after co-founder Pete Gratale, who owned outpatient imaging centers and urgent care facilities, identified a need for improved healthcare technology solutions. 

Greenlight’s core platform, ChartX, is a healthcare data and workflow platform that serves as the backend for multiple Greenlight ventures. Its portfolio companies include Triad Behavioral Resources, Doclytics, OCHI and Project VBOT, a recovery and addiction platform deployed in 90 counties in North Carolina. The firm has had five exits, according to Markfield.

“Some of the concepts literally are grown in-house,” said Yordy. “Some are people coming to us and going, ‘Hey, I’ve got an idea,’ and us looking at it, and validating that we think there’s some potential, and then coming alongside them.”

Greenlight’s strategic venture partners include Nexalin, Mirro, Goldie Health and Qibo, as well as Evolve Capital Management for capital and financial services and Stage Management and Development for operational support services.

According to Markfield, ChartX functions as an “IP bank,” enabling the firm to tackle new projects, reuse code components across different ventures, and pursue strategic deals, such as the recent partnership with Nexalin.

“(Yordy) and I are frequently going back and forth, trying to figure out what the best path forward is for some of those (code) features and functions,” Markfield said. “The customers really help determine if it's something that’s foundational and should be part of the ChartX core or part of each product.”