You could say the latest news about Validic is pretty cool. 

The momentum seems to keep building for Durham’s Validic, which is backed by billionaire and NBA Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

Validic learned Wednesday that research firm Gartner – one of the world’s best known firms – has picked the startup as a “Cool Vendor.”

“Gartner reached out to us as they were doing research on the healthcare category,” says CEO Ryan Beckland. ”Validic was only one of three companies listed in their report for the category. We are delighted to be recognized by such a prestigious and globally-respected organization, as Gartner.”

Validic’s “secret sauce” is its means to collate and make sense of digital health data from a wide variety of sources.

Principal Research Analyst Jeff Cribs sings Validic’s praises in the 2014 report:

“Validic was early to recognize an  unfulfilled need in the rapidly growing market for wellness apps and devices — the ability to capture and normalize wellness data from the vast array of devices and apps available on the consumer market today. The fundamental point of
these devices and apps is to give consumers control over the experience of improving their health. However, businesses —
including payers, employers and wellness technology vendors — also want to integrate these devices, and the data they
capture, into care management and wellness programs, as well as benefit design.”

According to the report, Validic is effective and designed for BYOD – bring your own devices.

“By aggregating and normalizing data from more than 87 wellness apps and devices — covering more than 98 percent of the total usage of wellness apps and devices today — Validic supports bring-your-own-device programs that preserve the member’s ability to choose his or her wellness experience, while limiting integration and costs and errors,” Gartner says.

High praise indeed.

“As one of only a few companies listed in this healthcare category, we are honored to be recognized by such a prestigious
and globally-respected organization, as Gartner,”  Beckland, a co-founder, said in a statement.

“Today’s healthcare organizations are seeing an increased pressure and need to integrate with clinical and mobile health devices,
wearables and patient healthcare applications. Validic enables quick, efficient access to actionable digital health data.
Because of the speed and quality of our data delivery, our clients recognize the market advantage we provide and have the
ability to focus valuable resources on moving healthcare towards preventive diagnosis, predictive treatment and faster
health innovation.”

More Good news

Other good news recently for Validic includes the securing of a $1.25 million convertible note from SJF and some angels.

“Combined with previous rounds, our total funding to date is $2.1 million,” Beckland notes in an email response to questions from WRAL TechWire.

And the influx of funding plus growing awareness in the online health arena is driving new business.

“We are experiencing record growth and expanding our client base,” Beckland says. “Our digital health ecosystem now touches over 90 million lives, and we are nearly doubling our application and device integrations.”

Validic also recently expanded its management team to help manage growth and opportunities.

“We have recently hired three key executives with extensive experience in healthcare technology,” Beckland explains.

“John Turnburke, previously with MedFusion and Intuit, joins as senior vice president of business development. Chris Edwards, previously with Allscripts, joins as senior vice president of marketing. Ben Clark, previously with Allscripts and Intuit, joins as vice president of operations. Together, they have over 60 years of healthcare and technology experience. Additionally, we have hired several other personnel in sales, marketing and operations with plans to hire additional developers and engineers. “

And so the beat goes on at Validic.