The Journal of mHealth Vol 3 Issue 1 (Feb/Mar 2016) | Page 13

Industry News

Babylon Raises £17M for Its AppEnabled, Remote Healthcare Service
British digital healthcare start-up Babylon Healthcare has raised £17m, the largest series A funding round in European
digital healthcare to date. The mobile
app, which launched in February last
year, has built an artificially intelligent
“doctor” that can decode symptoms and
prevent illnesses before they occur, by
tracking your daily habits, and integrating data about your heart rate, diet and
your medical records.

250,000 people in the UK that allows
7-days-a-week access to their pool of
human doctors over video chat. The
company’s app allows users to book a
video consultation with a doctor or a
therapist, send photo or text messages
to get answers to quick questions, track
their health, and store basic health information like family health history, medication history, and allergy information.
Users can also order tests via the app.

The round was led by Investment AB
Kinnevik with participation from Hoxton Ventures, Innocent Drinks cofounders Richard Reed, Adam Balon, and Jon
Wright, as well as Deepmind cofounders Demis Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman. Sources close to the business say
it is currently valued significantly higher
than $100m.

Babylon will use the funds from this
round to further develop an artificial
intelligence system that helps users navigate their symptoms and monitor medication adherence. Parsa said that Babylon
will release the first part of this offering
in the next two to three months.

The company’s CEO and founder, Ali
Parsa, began working on Babylon in 2013
and launched the offering in early 2015.
Currently, the London-based startup offers a mobile doctor app used by

“Now it’s all about figuring out what’s
the best way of engaging with you,” he
said. “Do you talk? Do you have some
kind of visual? So we are now testing
that on people. What is it that people
really find most trustworthy?”
In February 2015, shortly after launch the

company had 5,000 users. Babylon now
covers about 250,000 customers with
150,000 active users. While consumers
are able to get the service directly, Babylon also offers it via employers. Parsa
said employers like the app because it’s
one extra convenience they can provide for their employees. Some of the
employers and payers that are using Babylon include Citigroup, Sky, MasterCard,
Mercer, Bupa, and Aviva. n

Diabetes Tools Nominated for
2016 Glomo Awards
Diabetes Tools has been nominated for Best Mobile Innovation
for Health in the GSMA’s 2016 Global Mobile Awards for its
TriabetesClinic online decision support service that puts medical apps at the heart of diabetes treatment for insulin-dependent
children, both in hospital and remotely at home.
“TriabetesClinic for Children combines mobile apps for
patient self-care and on-ward mobility with online tools to
simplify and digitally rearrange the care ar