Inequity in healthcare access came into sharp focus during the
pandemic, as did the need for contact tracing technology.
Contakt World Technologies Corp. (HELP:CSE; TLOOF:OTC) was founded to deliver solutions that target marginalized communities and try to level the playing field, according to the company. Contakt World’s latest move provides access to vaccine passport technology through a partnership with Portum announced October 14.
“We anticipate launching a new version of the HealthCheck app in December of this year, adding the vaccine passport and testing tracking features. We have been experiencing a significant demand for these features as business race to meet the federal vaccine mandate from the U.S. government."
With COVID and the widespread Delta variant, symptom screening, vaccine passports, vaccine validation, vaccine wallets, vaccine credentials, and other methods to improve population safety and reduce liability to restoring everyday business, travel, and social life are needed more than ever by employers and institutions.
Portum’s vaccine passports and wallets provide a secure proof of vaccination for monitoring guests’ access to events or venues. Contakt World will offer the Portum platform to commercial and government customers to meet and monitor vaccine mandates in public and private settings, exposure notification, symptom checker, secure vaccine wallet, and distancing notifications.
The revenue-sharing partnership with Portum will leverage Portum’s technology across Contakt World’s private and public sector clients.
Contakt World was formed in 2020 as a contact tracing company with health equity in mind, explains interim CEO Zayn Kalyan. At first, people could access the decentralized early exposure notification App pioneered by Google and Apple called GAEN that would only run in the latest digital devices, excluding a wide swath of underserved communities. The company believes that “technology has the ability to address inequity with solutions that can be deployed and used by people in marginalized communities who do not have the latest devices,” he says.
“When we acquired HealthCheck we were concerned about how sustainable the business might be. I was pleasantly surprised in the growth," recognizing it is now clear that COVID will have a lasting effect on the health technology needs surfaced during the pandemic.
Smart Health RM, a relationship management software built from the ground-up with public health in mind, was Contakt's first SaaS software application. Initiated to aid public health agencies with tracking and containing the spread of COVID, Smart Health has a particular focus on contact tracing and community engagement communication channels leveraging AI technology (smart text surveys).
The long lead-time selling into the public sector led the company in the direction of private organizations that rely of technology to protect its workforce, targeting companies with as many as 10,000 employees with its newer health technologies. “Public health agencies have a very long sales cycle and we have realized our efforts should be on private enterprises, such as private real estate companies, private schools, event venues with a large on-site staff and daily visitors,” Kalyan says.
Contakt World acquired its second platform, HealthCheck, in August, a symptom management tool that helps HR departments and healthcare professionals monitor the well-being of those who report to work or school each day. Organizations can screen, approve, and protect visitors, as well as customers, employees, or students using the Health Check platform. Over 100,000 people across 1,000 client organizations currently use the platform.
HealthCheck’s positive cash flow, existing client base, and the market demand for symptom management made the company an attractive target to “not only grow the HealthCheck business but to expand its offering to further meet the needs of its existing and new customers,” explains Kalyan.
“We anticipate launching a new version of the HealthCheck app in December of this year, adding the vaccine passport and testing tracking features. We have been experiencing a significant demand for these features as business race to meet the federal vaccine mandate from the U.S. government for employers with 100 or more employees.”
The one-year-old company went public in July 2021. VC firm Altus Capital is one of the founding investors and Kalyan is an Altus partner serving as CEO on an interim basis. He said the company is currently planning the Portum rollout to Contakt World customers.
“When we acquired HealthCheck we were concerned about how sustainable the business might be. I was pleasantly surprised in the growth," recognizing it is now clear that COVID will have a lasting effect on the health technology needs surfaced during the pandemic. “We want to build a more diversified health care platform,” he says.
Contakt World is looking at a number of strategic acquisitions in the coming months, setting its sights on a durable model that extends well beyond COVID. “The goal is to build a diversified group of healthcare and health tech businesses and use the platform to cross-sell the different offerings.” Areas of interest beyond COVID include long-term care, chronic care delivery, digital pharmacy, and telehealth, he said. He said the company intends to build it into a comprehensive health tech platform.
“We have existing clients and wanted to be able to offer a greater suite of services to them,” Kalyan states. Portum is known for delivering vaccine passports for events, such as concerts, sports competitions, and other events. Vaccine passports for events is their core. Contakt World wants to deliver Portum technology to its existing customers, who are looking for digital resources that keep their visitors and employees safe.
Symptom screening, vaccine passports, vaccine validation, vaccine wallets, vaccine credentials and other methods are employed to improve population safety and reduce liability. In light of COVID-19 and its Delta variant, the technology is becoming key to everyday business, travel, and social life.
In the Portum partnership, “we own the customer; they deliver the solution via a SaaS subscription model,” which Kalyan calls affordable. For example, a private school with 200–300 people may pay $4,000–$5,000 a year.
The pace is quickening for vaccine passport technology. Many large employers and state agencies may build their own, and there are other players in the space, such as Clear, the travel services company. “It’s a massive marketplace and that’s where we see the opportunity to build on our own client base and scale out from there,” Kaylan concludes.
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1) Gerri Leder compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor/employee. He/she or members of his/her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. He/she or members of his/her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. His/her company has a financial relationship with the following companies referred to in this article: None.
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