DiabeticConnect

Health-oriented socnet creator Alliance Health Networks has raised $3.3 milion in a third round of funding, bringing its total to $6.6 million.

This round was led by Highway 12 Ventures, with existing investor EPIC Ventures also participating, MediaPost reports.

Alliance Health launched its first social network in 2006 under the moniker DiabeticConnect.com, a space especially for diabetic online users. The community now sports 50,000 registered members and about 900,000 unique monthly users (per Compete).

The funding will be used to develop new social networks that target other serious chronic medical conditions and diseases, including obesity, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and heart disease.

"Whenever someone is afflicted with a major disease or health condition, it's never just that person who is affected," rationalized CEO Stead Burwell. "There is typically an extended community of individuals, service providers, and products each driven by one person's health condition."

In addition to aging baby boomers increasingly seeking health-oriented data online, over 50% of youth from ages 13-24 pursue the same information, according to a recent Ypulse study.