Mural Health raises $8 million in seed funding to grow platform modernizing clinical trials

The funding was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Virtue VC, Operator Partners, Arkitect Ventures, Correlation Ventures, and Project Mayhem Ventures.

The company says the investment will empower it to speed up the growth of the platform modernizing the clinical trial experience​ for both patients and caregivers.

Mural Health was founded in 2022 by Sam Whitaker, Jason Dong​, and Shawn Milochik who all wanted to make it easier to take part in trials. Sam previously founded Greenphire, where he invented and commercialized the world’s first clinical trial payments technology, the ClinCard.

Mural Health represents both a disruption to Sam’s original platform, and an expansion of functionality that leverages payments to manage and engage the participant. The company’s software platform, Mural Link, provides a next-generation payment tech​ that is artfully integrated with transportation, communication, and data collection functionalities.

Mural Health says it fully acknowledges being in a clinical trial can often be a burden​. It says the more difficult it is to be in the trial, the fewer people sign up and fewer people will remain.

Today, Mural Link says it reduces the burden and increases retention of trial participants in three core ways. First, it says its platform gives participants the power to choose how they receive payment, eliminating the predatory inactivity fees associated with prepaid debit cards that are typically used. Second, Mural Link offers functionality to help patients arrive at site visits without incurring a cash expense through an Uber integration. Finally, it helps optimize for a positive trial experience through two-way secure participant messaging and real time experiential feedback that informs study personnel on how to optimize operations, and ultimately prevent attrition.

“Participants in clinical trials often get overlooked as the industry, and the world, focuses on study results. But patients and their caregivers represent ground-zero. They are the source of data and without their participation new therapies cannot be safely brought to market,” said Sam Whitaker​, Mural Health’s co-CEO and co-founder.

“We believe that as we serve participants well, study sponsors will enjoy improved enrollment, retention, and protocol compliance. And the global community will, consequently, be better served by the new products that are made possible by clinical R&D.”

Mural Health says it has three of the top 15 pharmaceutical companies in the world as customers, as well as several biotechs such as Sonex Health, and research sites. Mural Health has also partnered up with several eClinical platforms such as Clinical ink and Ledger Run to provide an integrated solution. The company said its reception by its customers has been ‘overwhelming’.

“I have deployed several different participant support systems. Mural Health’s platform is exactly what the industry needs. Their product is intuitive, delightful to interact with, and is clearly designed for the patient and caretaker,” said Cindy Grabowski, Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Sonex Health.

“The Mural team is genuinely passionate about delivering on their promises. Their level of service that follows is refreshing and personal. The Mural team has been an absolute pleasure to work with.”

Steve Kraus leads the investment on behalf of Bessemer Venture Partners and has joined the Mural Health board of directors.

He said: “The Mural team has been hyper focused on creating value for the clinical research industry.

“I have been especially excited by the rapid results achieved within the largest global pharma companies. Mural Health has become the clear product leader in its category, and I am excited to watch the story unfold and see what this very experienced and driven team is able to create.”