Doing Business as Nod Health, Istios Health Announces a $5.6M Seed Funding Round Led by BIP Ventures

‍The Funding is Part of a Holistic Advancement of the Company's Mission to Transform Infectious Disease Care and Therapeutic Discovery

Phoenix, AZ – June 19, 2025 – Istios Health Inc. (dba Nod Health) has closed a $5.6 Million Seed round led by BIP Ventures, with participation from RVM Enterprise, the family office of Dr. Roger Medel. Dr. Medel is the founder and former CEO of MEDNAX (NYSE: MD) and will serve as the Chairman of the Istios Health Board. The capital will support the build-out of a national clinical and physician network, the development of the ID Navigator platform, and the expansion of biopharma partnerships.

This investment coincides with a strategic rebrand that positions Istios Health as the legal and operational parent identity for Nod Health. Operating publicly as Nod Health, the company operates a physician enablement platform structured to address the critical shortage of Infectious Disease (ID) physicians and improve national standards of care.

Additionally, Istios Health has merged with NoD MD (dba NoD Health and NoD MD), a leader in tele-infectious disease care delivery, to combine NoD’s clinical reach and operational infrastructure with Istios’ technology, research, and data platform.

“The investment from BIP Ventures and our rebrand to Istios Health reflects our opportunity to capitalize on our vision to build the national infrastructure for infectious disease care—combining clinical expertise, real-world data, and virtual access,” said Nikos Nikolopoulos, CEO and Co-Founder. “We're not just solving access issues; we’re building the platform for modern ID medicine and ultimately improving patient care.”

The co-founding executive team comprises experienced entrepreneurs and ID specialists, including co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nikos Nikolopoulos, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Nick Carlucci, and Dr. Madhu Murthy, co-founder and Head of Physician Partnerships. Nikos Nikolopoulos and Nicholas Carlucci are experienced healthcare operators who previously worked together at Panoramic Health. Nikos previously worked with Dr. Medel at MEDNAX, where they helped scale national physician-led platforms.

“By joining forces with Istios and building a platform that integrates care delivery with clinical research and real-world data, we have the opportunity to fundamentally reshape how infectious diseases are treated, studied, and prevented at a national scale,” said Dr. Murthy.‍

An Innovative Solution to an Urgent Challenge‍

Currently, the U.S. has approximately 10,000 specialized ID physicians, most located in urban and academic centers across the U.S. That concentration leaves over 80% of U.S. counties and roughly 50% of U.S. hospitals and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) without access to critical in-person ID expertise and coverage. The care gap has been shown to lead to issues including improper antibiotic prescriptions, a lack of post-discharge infection management, hospital-acquired infections, avoidable transfers, costly referrals, and poorer outcomes. (Source: The Infectious Diseases Society of America) Public health agencies, hospitals, and sponsors are urgently seeking scalable ID solutions to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR), optimize antibiotic stewardship, and expand trial diversity.

Istios Health is working to solve this critical and severe fragmentation and resource constraints in the development of ID physician networks. Infectious Disease is ideally suited for telehealth-based care delivery, and Nod Health delivers a comprehensive suite of relevant services through a national telehealth platform, including:

1. Inpatient infectious disease consultations
2. Antimicrobial stewardship programs
3. Infection prevention and control program support
4. Peer-to-peer clinician consults
5. Oversight of outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) and post-discharge quality initiatives

In addition to the telehealth platform, Nod Health will provide a nationwide network of embedded clinical trial sites focused on ID, enabling life sciences companies to accelerate patient recruitment, trial execution, and therapeutic validation within a single unified environment. To support and scale these efforts, the company is developing a proprietary technology platform called ID Navigator, which integrates real-world evidence, telehealth workflows, and clinical research infrastructure across its national network of physicians and sites. ID Navigator will serve as the central operating system for infectious disease care and discovery, enabling standardized workflows, streamlined data capture, and coordinated patient management across diverse care settings and research protocols.

“We’re building the operating system for infectious disease,” said Mr. Carlucci. “From rural hospitals to biotech sponsors, our platform connects the dots, enabling smarter care, better research, and stronger outcomes.”

With the recent funding and strategic corporate transformation, Istios Health is positioned to become the nation’s first integrated platform focused exclusively on ID care and research. Its three-tiered solution includes virtual ID coverage, physician enablement, and clinical research integration. The solution provides life sciences partners with access to real-world data, site activation, and streamlined trial recruitment. Additionally, a Real-World Evidence (RWE) data platform will harness insights from physician network, telehealth encounters, and clinical trials to drive therapeutic discovery and support improved clinical decision-making across AMR, sepsis, and other infectious diseases.

“As experienced investors in healthcare tech, we understand the critical problem Istios Health is positioned to solve. We understand how their integrated model can revolutionize infectious disease care and trial discovery,” said Austin Poole, General Partner of BIP Ventures. “We’re thrilled to partner with this accomplished, focused team. We have every reason to believe this team has the experience, vision, ability, and resources to deliver innovation across clinical care and research.”

About Istios Health (dba Nod Health)

Istios Health, doing business as Nod Health, is a healthcare technology and services company focused on delivering virtual infectious disease care, enabling physician collaboration, and accelerating clinical research through a nationwide, tech-enabled ID network. Founded by physicians and digital health operators, the company combines telehealth, real-world evidence, and clinical infrastructure to improve care quality, expand access, and drive innovation in ID medicine. Visit www.nod.health to learn more.

Read the news on the NodMD website.