datma is a leading provider of federated Real-World Data platform and related tools for analysis and visualization. And datma’s mission is to empower healthcare organizations to optimize their data assets, drive innovation, and improve patient outcomes through advanced data storage, AI-enabled data harmonization, and federated query and workflow technology. Based in Oregon, the company is at the forefront of transforming how healthcare data is shared, monetized, and applied by enabling secure collaboration between data custodians and data consumers. Pulse 2.0 interviewed datma CEO Noah Nasser to learn more about the company.
Noah Nasser’s Background
Please tell me more about your background and what attracted you to datma? Nasser said:
“With over 30 years of experience in the biotechnology and genomics sectors, I’ve dedicated my career to developing and commercializing innovative solutions that advance human health. My leadership roles at companies like Serimmune, Human Longevity, Counsyl, AltheaDx, and Verinata Health have given me a deep understanding of the complexities and opportunities within the healthcare landscape. I was drawn to datma by its unique approach to addressing a critical challenge: enabling secure and responsible data sharing. datma.FED, our federated real-world data platform, empowers healthcare organizations to unlock the value of their data while maintaining control and privacy. This decentralized approach facilitates collaboration, creates new revenue streams for data custodians, and ultimately advances precision medicine by enabling researchers and innovators to access the data they need to drive groundbreaking discoveries.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Nasser reflected:
“Building a high-performing team is paramount to any organization’s success. At datma, I am consistently impressed by the caliber of our talented, driven, and diverse team. One of my favorite memories was a pivotal strategy session earlier in 2024. We gathered informally, literally around my kitchen table, brainstorming the future of datma. What could have been a divisive meeting instead became a remarkably positive and productive collaboration. The collaborative spirit, where every team member’s input was valued and integrated into our strategic roadmap, was incredibly fulfilling. We left that meeting and extended our discussions to every member of datma. This experience reaffirmed the power of teamwork and the importance of fostering a culture of open communication and shared ownership.”
Heading Into This Year
What is the company’s focus heading into 2025? Nasser noted:
“In 2025, our primary focus is expanding and scaling our federated data-sharing network. This encompasses two key objectives: increasing the breadth and diversity of data available within the network and enhancing the tools and resources available to our data consumer customers. As we move beyond our initial focus on oncology, we are actively expanding our network by integrating with new health systems to access a wider range of data resources. We aim to significantly increase the breadth, depth, and diversity of available data in the near future, transforming datma.FED into an indispensable discovery engine for improved care delivery. This includes gaining deeper insights into clinical pathways, workflows, and root biological discovery. We are committed to empowering health systems, laboratories, and other data custodians with a secure and scalable platform to monetize their data assets. By facilitating secure, decentralized collaboration between data custodians and data consumers, we strive to unlock the full potential of real-world data, driving innovation in precision medicine, improving patient care, and accelerating groundbreaking research and development.”
datma.FED Platform
Can you explain datma.FED, and what value the platform brings to health systems and pharma companies? Nasser pointed out:
“datma.FED leverages advanced AI and analytics to execute complex queries across its federated network securely. This enables the extraction and delivery of de-identified, privacy-compliant datasets, empowering pharmaceutical companies and research organizations to gain actionable insights for drug discovery and precision medicine.”
“The advantages for data consumers are relatively obvious: access to meaningful, robust data sets that would otherwise be challenging to obtain. We have imbued datma.FED with intuitive, no or low code tools for common queries and applications. For data custodians, typically health systems and laboratories seeking to monetize their data, datma.FED is a low IT burden marketplace for these assets. Regardless of a system’s desire to monetize its data, datma.FED addresses data access, integration, and harmonization challenges while maintaining privacy and stewardship.”
“By streamlining data access and adhering to the highest compliance standards, datma.FED accelerates research and development. Unlike traditional centralized data models, datma.FED fosters a collaborative ecosystem where health systems, molecular labs, and other data custodians can actively participate in research while maintaining complete ownership and control of their valuable data assets. This win-win approach fosters trust and accelerates medical innovation.”
Challenges Faced
Have you faced any challenges recently, and how did you overcome them? Nasser acknowledged:
“datma was founded as Omics Data Automation in 2016 by Ganapati Srinivasa and Chris Corless, building upon their experience with the Intel Collaborative Cancer Cloud. Our initial focus centered around efficiently storing and visualizing multidimensional healthcare data. We subsequently developed robust query and analytical engines to enhance this environment. The core technology that underpins our current platform, datma.FED, was established early on, emphasizing a “compute-to-data” approach. While we initially focused on developing cutting-edge technology, a critical shift occurred as we prioritized product-market fit and addressed specific customer needs. This pivot has driven us to build a cohesive ecosystem for maximizing healthcare data value through a combination of innovative tools and monetization strategies.”
“The most significant step forward in the company’s evolution was the prioritization and codification of customer needs as the company’s sole focus. Today, our new name “datma” is a portmanteau of data and the sanskrit word for self or soul, “atma.” We think this new name pays homage to the legacy of the company’s past, while describing a future where multimodal healthcare data is used to advance healthcare and improve outcomes equitably.”
Evolution Of The Company
How has datma evolved since its launch? Nasser replied:
“Since its launch, datma has evolved into a leader in federated data-sharing solutions. Initially focused on addressing the inefficiencies and risks of centralized data models, we’ve developed a Real-World Data platform that balances the need for privacy and compliance with the demand for actionable insights. Our focus on health systems and molecular labs has crystallized, and we continue to innovate by addressing emerging challenges like de-identification of unstructured data and providing tailored solutions for diverse data custodians.”
Success Stories
Can you share any specific success stories? Nasser highlighted:
“datma.FED functions as a two-sided marketplace, connecting data consumers (e.g., pharmaceutical companies) with data custodians (e.g., health systems). We prioritize both stakeholders equally, recognizing the interdependence of their needs.”
“Our initial success with an extensive West Coast health system exemplifies our approach to data custodians. They leveraged our full suite of storage, analytics, and visualization solutions to optimize oncology care pathways. This collaboration resulted in a significant increase in the utilization of targeted therapies, demonstrating the tangible impact of our platform. We continue to partner with this health system to evaluate and refine these improvements.”
“On the consumer side, we successfully addressed the challenges a major pharmaceutical company faced with low uptake of their precision therapeutic. By utilizing our federated data solution and advanced analytics, we identified key barriers, including low molecular testing adoption and limited physician awareness. This valuable insight empowered the pharmaceutical company to take targeted action to address these challenges and improve the success of their therapeutic. These insights and data were not available through other means.”
Funding
When asking Nasser about the company’s funding details, he revealed:
“We are in the very early days of our commercial launch, so revenue metrics remain a bit premature. The company is venture-backed. We have raised approximately $18M in funding. We have generated additional funding through grants.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is datma pursuing? Nasser assessed:
“datma operates within a dynamic and rapidly growing healthcare data, storage, sharing, and analytics market. The U.S. market alone is estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars and is projected to experience significant growth in the coming years. This growth is fueled by several key factors, including the increasing integration of AI in healthcare and the growing emphasis on data sovereignty. These trends, often intertwined, create a strong demand for secure and compliant data sharing solutions. Furthermore, the global market, driven by the need to address jurisdictional silos, presents significant growth opportunities.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates datma from its competition? Nasser affirmed:
“datma differentiates itself from other federated data networks and traditional data sharing platforms in several key ways.”
“First, we empower data custodians to monetize their data through a direct, query-based model, eschewing the need for bulk data sales or intermediaries. This ensures custodians retain full control over their data, enabling them to selectively share specific attributes with data consumers. As a direct consequence of this approach, datma prioritizes data stewardship at the custodian level, providing both control and oversight of how the data is viewed and used. This further allows us to address challenges in data attribution which other platforms cannot.”
“Second, datma operates on a fully decentralized architecture. Data remains securely within each custodian’s infrastructure, while enabling external queries to be executed seamlessly. This “compute to data” approach is enhanced with datma’s proprietary tools and third-party API’s to ensure seamless data integration and harmonization across the federated experience. The result is a durable federated approach to data ensuring that queries can be executed flawlessly across nodes without burdening data custodians or their IT services.”
“Third, datma addresses a critical gap in the market by providing pharmaceutical companies with access to high-quality, structured datasets often unavailable through traditional marketplaces. datma’s approach to data integration maximizes longitudinal value, ensuring that results are generated from deep, broad and robust data. We couple this with ready-to-use low- or no-code tools for data preparation and analysis. Data are provided back ready-to-use, minimizing time and effort on the back end.”
“By combining these unique capabilities, datma fosters a win-win scenario, enabling healthcare organizations to generate revenue and protect patient privacy while accelerating drug discovery and development for pharmaceutical companies.”
Future Goals
Where do you see the company in 5 years? Nasser concluded:
“datma began with a focus in the U.S. precision oncology space. In these early days, we have remained true to this vision by maximizing multi-omic and image data assets with a focus on oncology within our nascent federated space. Within five years, we envision datma at the forefront of transforming healthcare more broadly by making secure, high-quality data the cornerstone of personalized medicine and efficient care delivery globally. Our federated real-world data platform, datma.FED, serves as the foundation for this vision. By enabling researchers to access and analyze comprehensive datasets encompassing genomics, imaging, medical history, and lifestyle factors, we are paving the way for breakthroughs in disease detection and treatment. We are already moving toward this vision interacting with ever broader data resources and through building new, AI-empowered tools for data analytics, particularly in the imaging space.”
“We envision a future where clinicians seamlessly leverage AI-driven tools to deliver precise, timely care while minimizing administrative burdens. datma’s federated approach ensures that data custodians maintain control over their valuable assets while empowering researchers and healthcare providers to unlock critical insights that drive innovation.”
“With the continued expansion of our data network and the introduction of advanced tools such as datma.WHY and datma.360, we aim to enable earlier diagnoses, more effective therapies, and significantly improved patient outcomes worldwide.”
