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Besides COVID-19, type 2 diabetes is the most pressing healthcare problem faced by many right now. In the UK, it is estimated that one in 10 people over the age of 40 is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Of these, 60 percent are said to suffer from a complication of the disease along with major risks, including amputation, heart attack, and stroke.
Recent evidence shows that 45-60 percent of those suffering from type 2 diabetes can completely reverse the condition via a combination of diet and behavioural changes. This reversal has the potential to not only change millions of lives across the world but also to save healthcare systems billions of pounds. These interventions have been delivered on a small scale for research and in NHS pilots.
London-based digital health startup Habitual is working hard to deliver a scaled digital intervention to millions of patients in need of it. The company provides digital prediabetes and type 2 diabetes remission programmes that help patients to reverse disease and live medication-free.
Today, Habitual announced it has closed $2.3 million (nearly £1.7 million) in a seed funding round led by Berlin-based early-stage investor Atlantic Food Labs along with existing investors Seedcamp and MMC. Also, Oxford Seed Fund, an initiative of the Entrepreneurship Centre at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford took part in the round.
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As per reports, the overnight stay market on a global scale is estimated to be worth $1.2 trillion as the travel industry’s recovery is accelerating post the pandemic. Despite this growth, looking for the perfect stay can feel like a lottery with over 15 million homes online to choose from. Adding to this, the customer reviews are often misleading or untruthful.
London-based Plum Guide, an online platform for high-end vacation homes and homestay experiences, offers highly curated travel experiences.
In a recent development, Plum Guide has secured $9 million (nearly £6.6 million) in a funding round led by Beringea, the transatlantic venture capital firm. Also, existing investors Talis Capital, Hearst Ventures and Latitude took part in the investment round. Plum Guide will use the investment to accelerate its rapid climb towards boasting the definitive list of the world’s best vacation homes, As of now, the company has properties in over 500 destinations across 29 countries.
Plum Guide also offers its community of hosts, guests and fans a chance to participate in this round via a crowdfunding campaign with Crowdcube. It invites those who have a passion for travel and who expect perfection from their homestays to join world-class institutional investors excited by Plum Guide’s distinctive vision; to create a world-class trust mark for travel.
This latest funding round signals the anticipated travel boom in 2022 and beyond, amongst global travellers who prefer hotels in favour of alternative and more personal accommodation.
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Headquartered in London, Heydoc is a cloud-based clinical system covering medical and administrative tasks of healthcare providers. Now, the integrated clinical operating system and electronic health record (EHR) has raised $8.3 million (nearly £6.1 million) in a Series A funding round.
The investment round was led by Smedvig Capital with existing investors Hambro Perks, Triple Point Ventures and InHealth Ventures. This round brings the total amount raised to date by Heydoc to $12 million.
The proceeds will be used for further expansion in the UK healthcare market, where Heydoc is rapidly growing, and to expand its product offering to its existing and new clients. The raise will also allow Heydoc to expand internationally beyond their current nascent international footprint. The bulk of the raise will be used to grow the team which currently stands at 30 employees.
Christoph Lippuner, Co-Founder & CEO at Heydoc, commented: “We’re very excited to have Smedvig Capital as a partner in this new chapter of our adventure. This new raise will help us accelerate our growth in the UK, focus on our product and expand its capabilities, as well as go after international markets. Innovating and contributing to a transforming healthcare industry, profoundly impacted by regulatory changes, new patient expectations and a global pandemic, is both fascinating and rewarding. There is so much to be done in this industry and Heydoc is barely scratching the surface.”
Jon Lerner, Managing Director at Smedvig Capital, added: “We are delighted to invest in Heydoc and partner with Christoph and Mikael. Heydoc has grown rapidly and proven that its platform can dramatically improve the way clinicians work and the quality of patient interaction. The company has a strong mission-based culture and a huge opportunity in front of them to be part of the future of healthcare. We’re looking forward to supporting them in achieving this goal.”
Heydoc works with the mission to improve healthcare by empowering clinical teams with an all-encompassing operating system. Their innovative, user-friendly software solves core workflow issues for clinicians, transforming both the user and patient experience and providing a vastly improved offering compared to existing legacy solutions.
Tech apprenticeship startup co-founded by the oldest son of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Multiverse is nearing the billion-dollar ‘unicorn’ status after having closed a $130-million funding round to allow it to meet the growing demand for professional apprenticeships in both the UK and the US.
The Series C round was led by D1 Capital Partners and BOND and brings total funding for the tech startup to $194 million. The apprenticeship provider has experienced exponential growth since closing the UK’s largest ever edtech funding round this past January, a $44 million Series B led by General Catalyst, which was used to expand into the US. This latest funding round valued the company at around $875 million, more than four times the startup’s estimated valuation in January this year.
Founded in 2016 in London and previously known as WhiteHat, the education technology company matches talent who have not graduated from college with apprenticeship opportunities at companies. It trains apprentices at more than 300 companies including Facebook, Morgan Stanley and the NHS.
The startup also opened a US headquarters in New York City earlier in January. Within six months of launch in the US, it has begun training professional apprentices with organisations including Google, ClassPass and Adyen.
The additional funding will be used to drive growth in both the UK and the US, including by launching additional programmes and qualifications. This year Multiverse launched an innovative programme to enable apprentices to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Data Analytics and Data Science alongside their roles.
SenseOn, a London, UK-based cyber security company, raised $20m in Series A funding.
The round was led by Eight Roads Ventures and was supported by existing investors MMC Ventures, Crane Venture Partners and Winton Ventures Limited.
The company intends to use the funds to further R&D, as well as scaling its go-to-market team. To support this next phase of growth, SenseOn added veteran software go-to-market leader Jeremy Duggan – who has previously taken three SaaS companies – AppDynamics, Bladelogic and Ascential – to unicorn status – to its board.
Founded in 2017 by David Atkinson, SenseOn brings together cyber security experts, former government cyber operatives and applied machine learning specialists. It combines broad detection and response capabilities across traditionally siloed security domains with AI-based automation and an open security data cloud. Its unified platform proactively detects and shuts down threats including ransomware, hacking / data theft and malicious insiders, solving critical security challenges in a rapidly evolving IT landscape. It’s also suited to hybrid and remote work settings as it can be rapidly deployed across any endpoint or network inside and outside the traditional perimeter.
The complexity of health and disease cannot be captured by a singular diagnostic test and therefore can’t be expected to deliver true impact. Attempting to create a paradigm shift in diagnostics development by making them 10x more effective, faster and impactful is London-based early-stage biotech company Sanome.
The health startup has raised £2 million as its first round of funding from a number of leading UK and European health tech specialist investors. The round was led by Heal Capital, with participation from Crista Galli Ventures, Selvedge Ventures, o2h Ventures, Meltwind and a number of high-profile angels, including David Cleevely and Pam Garside.
The health startup has developed a diagnostics innovation engine that combines biomarkers to develop medical grade, at-home diagnostic products (IVDs) more efficiently and effectively. Most digital health, wearables and consumer biotech tools have limited medical use because it’s hard to validate them clinically. The startup’s novel approach leverages these existing technologies to develop at-home tests that are clinically validated to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. Ultimately, laying the foundation for the early detection and prevention of diseases of high unmet need.
Sanome was founded by experienced entrepreneurs Benedikt von Thüngen, CEO of the group and Dr Marc van der Schee, Chief Medical Officer. They combine a unique set of experiences, including software, clinical, healthcare, AI/ ML and biomarker development, as well as having built and scaled multiple successful companies before, including Owlstone Medical and Speechmatics.
The investment will be used to expand the team across London, Amsterdam and Cambridge and deliver on key strategic and commercial partnerships to develop and validate the first set of IVD candidates.
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London-based LDC is a leading mid-market private equity house in the UK. It is the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Now, LDC announced that it just completed a £22.5 million investment in Marmalade Game Studio (Marmalade), a market-leading game developer and publisher in the UK.
The investment round was led by Dale Alderson, Jacob Leone and Aziz Ul-Haq at LDC in Manchester. As part of the transaction, Dale and Jacob will also join the board, alongside inbound Non-Executive Chairman Andrew Graham, formerly of games developer Mediatonic, which is known for games including Fall Guys – Ultimate Knockout and Foul Play. The transaction marks a successful exit for Bloc Ventures, which invested in Marmalade in 2015.
Cristina Mereuta, joint CEO of Marmalade Game Studio, said: “We have seen people’s love for gaming blossom as they have fun and maintain connections with friends and family through gameplay. This has given us the opportunity to not only expand our portfolio of games, bringing some of the most well-loved titles to life in the digital world, but to continue recruiting the most exciting talent in the industry.”
Michael Willis, joint CEO of Marmalade Game Studio, added: “In LDC, we have a partner that is committed to backing our ambition and working closely with us to make our business plan a reality. It was also important to us that our backer was supportive of the strong working culture we have created, and we know from LDC’s track record they will help us to maintain the creative spirit and supportive environment that Marmalade is known for. With more game launches on the horizon and our recruitment drive ongoing, we’re excited to continue driving our expansion.”
Jacob Leone, Investment Manager at LDC in Manchester, added: “Michael and Cristina are truly inspirational leaders who have helped to transform Marmalade into the leading games business that it is today, nurturing strong relationships with its licensors to help bring classic games to life in the digital arena. The gaming industry has experienced exceptional growth in recent years, and Marmalade has seized the opportunity to provide players with the best quality games to enjoy.
Bruce Beckloff, CEO at Bloc Ventures, commented: “Marmalade’s growth has been impressive. Since Bloc’s investment in 2015, we’ve worked with the management team to combine efforts around their strong gaming backgrounds and key industry relationships with our company building experience. We’re fortunate to have been part of the journey and are excited to see what the future holds for Marmalade with LDC.”
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Digital department store Freemans has launched a full beauty offer, taking in big names and emerging brands across cosmetics, fragrance, haircare and skincare, and has issued a call for brands to pitch their products to the beauty team.
Freemans recently hired former Debenhams beauty buyer Michelle Fox to propel its beauty strategy and brands already secured, include Elizabeth Arden, Moschino, SVR, Pur Cosmetics, Revlon and James Read.
The beauty offer will continue to evolve and brands, large and small, wishing to be stocked on the site are invited to join the call by emailing beautycall@fgh-uk.com.
Linda Quinn, Chief Merchandise Officer at Freemans said of new launch: “Beauty is another important step on the journey to meet our ambition to become the UK’s online department store of choice.
“We are hugely excited to be able to launch and strengthen our beauty proposition at Freemans. Focused on creating an exciting destination for customers that are craving somewhere new to shop beauty. Freemans will give customers access to a fantastic selection of both established and emerging brands."
Freemans' beauty pedigree was strengthened even further last year when Richard Cristofoli joined Freemans as Chief Customer Officer. At Debenhams he had formerly been Managing Director, Beauty, Marketing and Digital. Under his tenure at Debenhams the team introduced and sold more premium beauty than any other retailer in the UK.
“The beauty call initiative we’re launching today is a simple way for brands to contact the beauty team directly. We appreciate the challenges of setting up a new brand and have a range of payment terms that are designed to nurture and support these emerging brands,” Cristofoli added.
As well as adding beauty, Freemans has been upping its fashion and lifestyle credentials by introducing new designer partnerships with names such as Julien Macdonald on fashion and lifestyle and former fashion designer Henry Holland on interiors.
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UK-fintech business lender MarketFinance is an online platform that lets businesses access a range of flexible finance solutions easily. Today, the fintech has secured £280 million debt and equity investment. Also, it has been accredited by the British Business Bank as a lender under Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS).
The debt financing was provided from a large global investment firm alongside Italy’s largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. The equity investment was led by Black River Ventures that has backed Marqeta, Upgrade, Coursera, and Digital Ocean alongside participation from existing investor, Barclays Bank PLC.
MarketFinance intends to use the funds to help UK companies with business loans. It has launched Flex Loans, which is an unsecured flexible facility that will help SMEs solve their everyday cash flow problems. It aims to help nearly one million SMEs in the UK solve their short-term funding gaps up to £100,000.
Viola Credit has provided MarketFinance with £20 million to launch the Flex Loans product. Similar to a credit card or overdraft, businesses will have a pre-agreed limit of up to £100,000, which they can withdraw at once or in smaller amounts. Flexible repayment options enable the businesses to spread their repayments over 3 – 12 months based on their working capital needs.
This solution will support a variety of one-off and ongoing funding requirements, including purchasing inventory, clearing outstanding invoices, upfront supplier payments, investment into sales and marketing or expanding the team.
Besides the investment, MarketFinance became one of the first fintechs to be accredited under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), which lent £250 million to companies across the UK. Launched by the British Business Bank in April 2021, the Recovery Loan Scheme supports access to finance for UK businesses as they recover and grow following the pandemic.
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A global open banking platform based in London, TrueLayer, makes it easy for anyone to build better financial experiences. Now, the company announced that it has pocketed $130 million (nearly £95 million) in a funding round, which gives it a post-money valuation of over $1 billion, thereby making it a unicorn.
The investment round was led by New York-based tech investor Tiger Global Management LLC along with participation from Stripe, a global payments technology provider. TrueLayer will use the proceeds of this round to further scale its business and offer the benefits of instant bank payments to more markets as well as sectors.
Also, it will focus on continued product development and innovation, including PayDirect. The funds will also let the company continue its geographic expansion and strengthen its product, engineering and commercial teams worldwide.
“When Francesco and I founded TrueLayer it was with a belief that open banking would act as a catalyst for fundamental change in financial services. I’m incredibly proud of how we’ve built the firm, with a focus on quality engineering and user experience aligned to product development that delivers the best possible services,” commented Luca Martinetti, co-founder and CTO at TrueLayer. “That is reflected in the thousands of developers using our services, the talent we are retaining and the calibre of leaders we’re attracting from world-class technology and fintech companies. Our people buy into the vision for what we’re building and the journey ahead. It’s also reflected in the quality of our investors who believe in our ambition and are as excited as us about what comes next.”
Alex Cook, Partner, Tiger Global, said: “The shift to alternative payment methods is accelerating with the global growth of online commerce, and we believe TrueLayer will play a central role in making these payment methods more accessible. We’re excited to partner with Francesco, Luca and the TrueLayer team as they help customers increase conversion and continue to grow the network.”
In addition to the latest investment round, TrueLayer announced the launch of its PayDirect solution, Verification API, and Payouts solution. Also, it received its full EU authorisation from the Central Bank of Ireland and establishing its European HQ in Dublin.
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