Verana Health

Overview

Industry: Digital Health / Real-World Data & Evidence Analytics Founded: 2008 Headquarters: San Francisco, CA Employees: ~180-190 (as of 2024-2025) Website: https://veranahealth.com/

Verana Health is a digital health company that delivers actionable insights from unfiltered healthcare data across specialty care settings. The company operates an exclusive real-world data (RWD) network of over 20,000 healthcare providers spanning ophthalmology, neurology, urology, and (post-COTA merger) oncology, providing access to data from nearly 500 million patient encounters. Founded by physicians including co-founders Miki Kapoor and Mark Blumenkranz, Verana Health serves as the exclusive data partner for major medical societies including the American Academy of Ophthalmology (managing the IRIS Registry) and American Urological Association (managing the AQUA Registry). The company leverages proprietary AI-enhanced technology (VeraQ platform) to transform raw EHR data into research-ready datasets (Qdata) that power drug development, clinical trials, and real-world evidence generation for life sciences companies, payers, and healthcare providers. In January 2026, Verana Health merged with COTA to dramatically expand its oncology capabilities and therapeutic footprint.

Products & Services

VeraQ Platform

• Description: A clinician-directed and AI-enhanced population health data engine that securely processes and validates healthcare data from multiple EHR systems (70+ EHR platforms supported), incorporating a data integrity feedback loop managing nearly half a billion raw point-of-care health encounters.
• Target market: Life sciences companies, healthcare providers, clinical researchers
• Pricing model: Enterprise SaaS; subscription-based licensing for data access and analytics

Qdata (Disease-Specific Data Modules)

• Description: Research-ready, curated disease-specific datasets derived from real-world EHR data, harmonized across multiple sources and enhanced with AI validation. Modules available for ophthalmology, urology, neurology, and oncology.
• Target market: Biopharma companies, contract research organizations (CROs), academic medical centers
• Pricing model: Subscription-based access to specific disease modules; custom licensing available

Site Explorer

• Description: A data-driven clinical trial site selection tool that leverages real-world data to identify qualified clinical trial sites, predict patient enrollment potential, and now includes tools to advance diversity in clinical trial recruitment (launched March 2025).
• Target market: Sponsors, CROs, clinical trial teams
• Pricing model: Subscription-based SaaS

Verana Trial Connect (VTC)

• Description: Unlocks the power of EHR data to help clinical practices identify eligible trial patients, streamlining patient recruitment for clinical studies.
• Target market: Clinical practices, trial sponsors, CROs
• Pricing model: Subscription-based service for practices

Market Insights Solutions

• Description: Leverages real-world evidence derived from curated registries (IRIS, AQUA, Evolve) to provide competitive intelligence, treatment patterns, clinical outcomes, and market dynamics across specialty care segments.
• Target market: Life sciences companies for commercialization, medical affairs, and market access
• Pricing model: Subscription-based analytics platform

Quality Reporting & MIPS Advisory Services

• Description: Provides MIPS (Merit-based Incentive Payment System) compliance support and quality measure reporting for participating clinicians in ophthalmology and other specialties; expanded in 2024-2025 to include enhanced coaching and advisory services.
• Target market: Medical practices, healthcare providers enrolled in MIPS programs
• Pricing model: Service-based with advisory components

Market Position & Industry Dynamics

Market segment: Real-World Evidence Solutions for Life Sciences (pharma, biotech, medical devices), Healthcare Analytics, Clinical Trial Technologies

Estimated market share: Not publicly disclosed; positioned as market leader in specialty care RWD (ophthalmology, urology, neurology particularly)

TAM: Global real-world evidence solutions market estimated at USD 2.81 billion in 2024, projected to reach USD 6.01 billion by 2033 (CAGR 8.94%, 2025-2033). North America represents 43.17% of this market. Services segment dominates with 57.73% market share. Drug development and approvals is the largest application segment. Source: Grand View Research analysis cited in industry reports.

SAM: Not explicitly quantified in public sources; estimated to include specialty care segment (ophthalmology, urology, neurology, oncology) served by Verana plus adjacent pharmaceutical development and clinical trial optimization markets. Post-COTA merger, Verana Health indicates access to 17 of top 20 global biopharma companies.

Industry Trends:

• Regulatory acceleration of RWE adoption: FDA and regulatory agencies increasingly accepting real-world evidence for drug approvals and post-market surveillance, creating demand for regulatory-grade RWD solutions (Verana Health recognized by Frost & Sullivan 2025 as innovation leader in regulatory-grade RWE)
• Therapeutic area expansion and consolidation: RWD companies are broadening therapeutic coverage through acquisitions and partnerships (e.g., Verana-COTA merger expanding from ophthalmology/urology/neurology into oncology)
• Data interoperability and ecosystem play: Integration of specialty care data with broader healthcare data ecosystems (e.g., Verana's July 2024 partnership with HealthVerity making IRIS data available via HealthVerity Marketplace)
• AI-driven data quality and speed: Advanced machine learning increasingly central to accelerating time-to-insight and improving data validation at scale
• Pharma efficiency imperative: Rising clinical trial costs and recruitment challenges driving pharma demand for RWD-driven patient identification and site selection

Key differentiators:

• Exclusive partnerships with major medical societies (American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Urological Association) providing proprietary access to specialty care data at unprecedented scale
• Clinician-directed data governance model ensuring clinical relevance and trust among provider networks
• Regulatory-grade data curation and AI validation framework designed to support FDA submissions and post-market surveillance
• Specialized expertise in rare and specialty diseases (ophthalmology, urology, neurology, now oncology post-COTA) rather than broad generalist RWD platform
• End-to-end data management capability (ingestion from 70+ EHR systems, harmonization, curation, analytics)

Positioning: Verana Health positions itself as the "trustworthy, clinician-informed real-world data partner for specialty care innovation" — emphasizing data integrity, medical society partnerships, and regulatory-grade evidence generation for life sciences. They compete on quality and trust rather than data breadth, focusing on deep specialty expertise versus competitors like Flatiron (oncology-focused) or broader data platforms like Datavant.

Leadership Team

Financials

• Revenue: Estimated $36.1M annual revenue (based on Latka/Owler data circa 2024)
• Funding: Total raised $367M across multiple rounds including:
  • Series E: $150M (led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC and Novo Growth; co-investors GV/Google Ventures, Casdin Capital, Brook Byers; new investors: Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, THVC, Breyer Capital)
  • COTA merger investment: Additional $52M in equity from existing and new institutional investors (January 2026)
• Valuation: Not publicly disclosed; private company
• Profitability: Not disclosed; company appears to be growth-stage with strong investor backing

Recent News & Developments

• 2025-10: Verana Health revealed enhancements to data and software solutions ahead of AAO 2025 Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida
• 2025-Q1: Verana Health launched updates to Site Explorer tool focused on advancing diversity in clinical trial design and patient recruitment
• 2026-02: Introduced industry-first end-to-end urologic-oncology datasets post-COTA merger integration, combining urology expertise with oncology data depth
• 2026-01: Announced merger with COTA Inc. to dramatically expand scale, velocity, and depth of RWD offerings across oncology and other specialties; combined entity now serves 17 of top 20 global biopharma companies with access to 95+ million patients, 20,000+ clinicians, 30+ academic medical centers, 10+ million accessible oncology patients
• 2025-02: Enhanced MIPS advisory services to help medical practices maximize program benefits and reduce compliance burden
• 2024-10: Unveiled Qdata Explorer subscription tool at American Academy of Ophthalmology 2024 Annual Meeting, allowing life sciences companies to explore research-ready ophthalmology data modules
• 2024-07: Strategic partnership with HealthVerity announced, making Verana Health's curated registry data available and interoperable through HealthVerity Marketplace
• 2024: Expanded partnership with American Urological Association for AQUA Registry, assuming responsibility for EHR data integration and MIPS reporting for registry participants beginning 2025
• 2024: Recognized by Frost & Sullivan as Growth and Innovation Leader in 2025 Frost Radar for Life Sciences Real-World Evidence Solutions

Competitive Landscape

Direct competitors:

• Aetion — Healthcare analytics company providing decision-grade real-world evidence solutions to biopharma, payers, and regulators; strong clinical causal inference capabilities; positioned as competing on evidence quality and regulatory acceptance
• Flatiron Health (Roche subsidiary) — Oncology-focused cloud platform integrating clinical data spectrum; dominant in oncology RWD; benefiting from Roche integration and resources; competes on oncology depth and pharma relationships
• Datavant — Health data connectivity platform enabling secure movement of 60+ million healthcare records between 80,000+ hospitals/clinics; broader data orchestration play; competes on data breadth and interoperability
• Komodo Health — Healthcare analytics platform analyzing data to provide insights for life sciences, payers, patient advocacy; growing partnership/integration model with Datavant; competes on speed of insights and broad data access
• Evidation — Digital health measurement and engagement platform leveraging real-world health data and machine learning; more consumer-focused; competes on consumer/behavioral health data
• OM1 — Real-world evidence platform for clinical research and health economics; growing RWE competitor
• HealthVerity — Health data ecosystem enabler; increasingly positioned as infrastructure/marketplace for RWD company integrations

Competitive advantages:

• Exclusive medical society partnerships (AAO IRIS, AUA AQUA registries) providing proprietary, high-trust data access unavailable to competitors
• Clinician-informed governance model and clinical advisory boards ensuring data relevance and practice adoption
• Regulatory-grade data quality and validation framework designed for FDA submissions (recognized by Frost & Sullivan)
• Specialized depth in high-value specialty care segments (ophthalmology, urology, neurology, now oncology) rather than broad horizontal play
• Established provider network of 20,000+ clinicians with existing data-sharing relationships and trust
• AI-enhanced VeraQ platform providing proprietary algorithms for data harmonization and quality assurance across diverse EHR systems

Competitive vulnerabilities:

• Smaller scale than some competitors: ~180 employees vs. larger platforms; post-COTA merger still scaling
• Historically focused on specialty care may limit broader pharma adoption vs. oncology-dominant Flatiron or broader platforms like Datavant/Komodo
• Employee sentiment challenges: Glassdoor rating 2.7/5 (30% below industry average) with concerns about leadership transparency, workplace culture, and organizational instability — potential talent retention and recruitment risk
• Not an IPO or strategic acquisition target currently (still private), limiting access to public markets and talent incentives competitors with public equity may offer
• Dependent on medical society partnerships and registry governance; changes in society strategy or data policies could impact competitive position
• Post-COTA integration execution risk: merger integration complexity could distract from product/market execution in 2026

Strategic Assessment

Strengths

• Exclusive medical society data partnerships at scale: Access to IRIS Registry (50M+ unique patients, 211M+ patient visits) and AQUA Registry (leading urology data) via exclusive AAO/AUA partnerships provides proprietary data moat that competitors cannot easily replicate. This is a foundational competitive advantage.
• Regulatory-grade RWE credentials: Frost & Sullivan 2025 recognition as innovation leader in regulatory-grade RWE, combined with FDA-aligned data validation frameworks and demonstrated use in drug submissions, positions Verana as trusted partner for pharma regulatory strategies.
• Strong institutional investor backing and capital: $367M total funding with Series E led by J&J JJDC and Novo Growth, plus additional $52M post-COTA merger, provides runway for product development, market expansion, and integration; investor roster (J&J, Novo, MSD, Google Ventures) signals confidence and strategic partnerships.
• Proven market adoption among top-tier pharma: Operating with 17 of top 20 global biopharma companies; integration into major pharma workflows for clinical trials, drug development, and commercialization.
• Clinician-centered governance model: Direct engagement with medical professionals and specialty societies creates trust, clinical relevance, and sustainable competitive differentiation vs. data-agnostic platforms.

Weaknesses

• Significant employee sentiment and cultural challenges: Glassdoor rating 2.7/5 (30% below IT industry average) with recurring themes of poor leadership transparency, misaligned decision-making, knowledge silos, and low confidence in company direction (only 25% positive business outlook from employees). This creates immediate talent retention risk and potential product/execution quality issues.
• High dependency on medical society partnerships: Exclusive relationships with AAO and AUA are strengths but also concentration risk — any shift in society strategy, governance changes, or disputes could impact data access and competitive position.
• Limited scale relative to some competitors: ~180 employees is smaller than larger RWD platforms (Flatiron, Datavant); post-COTA merger brings integration complexity rather than immediate operational efficiency.
• Historically specialty care-focused limits broader adoption: Traditional strength in ophthalmology/urology/neurology may be perceived as narrow by pharma companies wanting broad therapeutic coverage; post-COTA oncology expansion is still in early integration phase.
• Private company status limits talent acquisition: Lack of public equity or liquidity limits ability to attract top talent vs. public companies or recent unicorns; equity compensation less liquid/attractive.

Opportunities

• Oncology market expansion via COTA merger: COTA merger (January 2026) significantly expands addressable market by adding oncology — one of the largest therapeutic areas for pharma R&D spending. Combined entity now has 10M+ accessible oncology patients via 30+ academic medical centers; oncology RWD market is larger and more competitive but also more valuable. Strong opportunity to capture oncology-focused pharma budgets (Verana now serves oncology divisions of major pharma).
• Therapeutic area expansion beyond core specialties: Adjacent therapeutic opportunities in neurology (stroke, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's), rare diseases, and other specialty segments where medical societies manage registries. Expansion playbook proven with COTA acquisition.
• International expansion and global biopharma growth: Currently focused on North America (43% of global RWE market); significant opportunity to expand into Europe, Asia-Pacific, and other regions where specialty care registries exist or could be developed. Top 20 global pharma companies increasingly operate globally.
• Data-as-a-service and embedded analytics: Opportunity to expand beyond "data licensing" into embedded analytics, AI-driven insights, and white-label solutions for pharma customers seeking in-house RWE capabilities.
• Regulatory and health economic expansion: Growing FDA acceptance of RWE for drug approvals and real-world effectiveness post-market surveillance; opportunity to deepen health economic modeling, outcomes research, and pricing strategy support for pharma.
• Partnership ecosystem play: HealthVerity partnership (July 2024) demonstrates potential for multi-sided marketplace; opportunity to integrate Verana's specialty RWD into broader healthcare data ecosystems, creating network effects and expanding TAM.

Threats

• Intensifying competitive consolidation: Larger healthcare IT/pharma players (Roche/Flatiron, UnitedHealth/Optum, Amazon/HealthLake) acquiring or building competing RWD platforms; larger companies have distribution advantage, pharma relationships, and capital to outbid on data partnerships.
• Regulatory tightening on patient data privacy and consent: HIPAA, state privacy laws (California, New York), GDPR, and proposed federal privacy legislation could increase compliance costs, limit data availability, or require more explicit patient consent for RWD use — disproportionately impacting RWD companies vs. EHR vendors.
• Flatiron dominance in oncology post-COTA: Post-COTA, Verana competes directly with Flatiron in oncology, but Flatiron has 7+ year head start, Roche pharma integration, larger oncology dataset, and entrenched relationships. COTA integration success is uncertain.
• Medical society strategy changes: AAO and AUA could decide to internalize RWD capabilities, partner with competitors, or monetize data independently; any shift would directly threaten Verana's core data moat.
• Macroeconomic headwinds on pharma R&D spend: Pharma industry under pressure to reduce clinical trial costs and demonstrate efficiency; if budgets contract, demand for RWD-as-service solutions could soften despite strategic value proposition.
• Talent and leadership execution risk: Employee sentiment deterioration (2.7/5 Glassdoor rating, low confidence in leadership/direction) creates risk of key talent departure, particularly among technical/AI teams critical to product development. Leadership changes (CEO transition to Sujay Jadhav in 2024) indicate possible prior strategic misalignment.

Public Sentiment

Overall sentiment: Mixed to Negative — Strong investor and pharma customer confidence in product and market positioning, but significant internal employee dissatisfaction and cultural concerns creating perception risk.

Customer sentiment: Limited public review data available (not prominently listed on G2/Capterra); inferred from partnerships and adoption: pharma customers appear satisfied (17 of top 20 pharma companies as customers), evidenced by repeat business and clinical trial partnerships. Healthcare providers (clinicians using IRIS/AQUA) report satisfaction with registry participation and practice incentives (MIPS support, clinical trial opportunities). No major customer churn reported publicly.

Employee sentiment: Glassdoor 2.7/5 rating based on 57 reviews; significantly negative. Key themes: (1) Leadership transparency gaps — senior engineering leadership lacks communication clarity, creating uncertainty about priorities and direction; (2) Workplace culture issues — unfriendly work environment with knowledge silos and unwillingness to share; (3) Work-life balance concerns — "unlimited" PTO creates perception employees shouldn't use benefits, leading to burnout; (4) Low confidence in business outlook — only 25% of employees believe Verana has positive outlook. Positive aspects: compensation rated 3.4/5 (above other categories); some recognition of quality product and mission importance. Recommendation rate: only 35% would recommend to friend.

Analyst sentiment: Positive. Frost & Sullivan recognized Verana Health as "Growth and Innovation Leader" in 2025 Frost Radar for Life Sciences Real-World Evidence Solutions, citing innovation, growth, strategic initiatives, and partnerships. Industry analysts view Verana favorably as regulatory-grade RWE leader in specialty care. No major critical analyst reports identified.

Sentiment Drivers

Growth Vectors

Stated strategy: Verana Health's stated growth strategy centers on: (1) accelerating clinical trial capabilities and site selection tools; (2) expanding data-as-a-service offerings across therapeutic areas; (3) deepening medical society partnerships and registry capabilities; (4) advancing regulatory-grade RWE for FDA submissions; (5) scaling commercial operations to capture pharma market opportunity. Post-COTA merger, explicit focus on multi-specialty RWD powerhouse and oncology expansion.

Existing Market Expansion

• Upsell and cross-sell within pharma base: Expanding share-of-wallet with existing 17-of-top-20 pharma customers by offering additional therapeutic area datasets (oncology post-COTA), new use cases (site selection, trial connect, commercialization), and enterprise analytics packages.
• Geographic and regional expansion within North America: Expanding provider network and registry data coverage in underserved regions; COTA merger brings 30+ academic medical center network expansion.
• New use case expansion within existing data: Market Insights, MIPS advisory, health economics, outcomes research leveraging existing specialty care data for additional customer segments (payers, managed care, healthcare systems).

New Market Opportunities

• Oncology as major new therapeutic market: COTA merger is transformative — oncology is 15-20% of pharma R&D spend and larger RWD market than ophthalmology/urology; opportunity to capture oncology-focused biopharma, medical device companies, and payers. COTA brings 10M+ accessible oncology patients and oncology-specific technology.
• Adjacent specialty care therapeutic areas: Rare disease registries, cardiovascular, gastroenterology, rheumatology, infectious disease — opportunity to replicate medical society partnership model in other therapeutic areas with existing registries.
• International markets: Europe, Canada, Australia, Asia-Pacific all have specialty care registries, medical societies, and pharma operations; global biopharma top 20 operates internationally. Opportunity to expand beyond North America's 43% of global RWE market.
• Direct pharma and health economic consulting services: Beyond data licensing, opportunity to offer RWE-powered consulting for clinical trial design, health economics, payer strategies, outcomes research — moving from data provider to advisory services.

Growth Vector Assessment

Discovered Entities

People

• Sujay Jadhav | Chief Executive Officer | https://www.linkedin.com/in/sujay-jadhav/ (inferred); https://theorg.com/org/verana-health/org-chart/sujay-jadhav
• David W. Parke II, MD | Executive Chairman | https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-parke-348213223/; https://www.aao.org/biography/255cef95-9be7-4b16-bc3d-c4bf620db808
• Marc Berger | Chief Operating Officer | https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-berger-28354/; https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/20789698
• Elliot Zimmerman | Chief Commercial Officer | https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliotzimmerman/; https://rocketreach.co/elliot-zimmerman-email_12875300
• Ashish Gupta | Chief Financial Officer | [Limited public profile data available]
• Andrea Sim | Chief Product Officer | [Limited public profile data available]
• Jennifer Farris | Chief People Officer | [Limited public profile data available]
• Miki Kapoor | Co-Founder | https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikikapoor/
• Mark Blumenkranz | Co-Founder, MD | [Co-founder of Verana Health; clinical leadership background]

Competitors

• Aetion | Healthcare analytics company providing decision-grade real-world evidence solutions to biopharma, payers, and regulatory agencies; strong clinical causal inference capabilities; competing on evidence quality and regulatory acceptance for drug development and approval
• Flatiron Health (Roche subsidiary) | Oncology-focused cloud platform integrating clinical data spectrum; dominant in oncology RWD with established pharma relationships, Roche integration, and scale advantage; direct competitor post-COTA in oncology segment
• Datavant | Health data connectivity platform enabling secure interoperability between 80,000+ hospitals/clinics and 60M+ healthcare records; competing on data breadth, interoperability infrastructure, and broader healthcare ecosystem access
• Komodo Health | Healthcare analytics platform analyzing data to provide life sciences, payer, and healthcare insights; growing partnerships (including with Datavant); competing on speed of insights and broad-based data access
• Evidation | Digital health measurement and engagement platform leveraging real-world health data and machine learning; more consumer-focused RWE play; competing in digital health and consumer behavioral data segments
• OM1 | Real-world evidence platform for clinical research and health economics; growing competitor in RWE space particularly for outcomes research
• HealthVerity | Health data ecosystem and marketplace enabling RWD company integrations and data exchange; increasingly positioned as infrastructure layer; partnership with Verana (July 2024) but also potential competitive threat via independent data provisioning
• Capio | Health data analytics and population health management platform; regional/emerging competitor in healthcare data analytics