11 minute read
Medical technology
Real estate
CIM and Envivo join forces to take over Heathcotes Group
Civitas Investment Management (CIM), an impact investor specialising in government-backed community real estate assets, has acquired care provider Heathcotes for an undisclosed price. The transaction was undertaken in partnership with Envivo Group, a care provider in the UK residential care and supported living sectors.
As part of the transaction, CIM has acquired all the healthcare real estate assets of Heathcotes on behalf of underlying investment clients and Envivo Group has purchased the operational care business.
Founded in 2005, Heathcotes has 72 UK healthcare facilities providing specialist residential accommodation for adults and children with learning disabilities, mental health and associated Medical technology Doctorlink Digital health company HealthHero has acquired digital triage provider Doctorlink after global investor Eight Roads Ventures sold its stake.
Doctorlink provides care for more than 12.5 million patients in the UK across more than 1,500 GP surgeries in the NHS.
London-based HealthHero operates in the UK, Ireland and Germany, providing holistic digital healthcare services. The acquisition of Doctorlink adds online triage and health risk assessment to its services.
Ranjan Singh, co-founder and chief executive of HealthHero said: “This marks an exciting step for both Doctorlink and HealthHero. By working together, we aim to create complex needs. It works with more than 50 local authorities and clinical commissioning groups.
CIM group director Tom Pridmore said: “We are delighted to have partnered with Envivo Group to announce this significant transaction, one of the largest in UK healthcare this year. The healthcare sector in which we invest is continuing to demonstrate strongly its resilience, with a service offer that is uncorrelated to the broader economy, that delivers positive social outcomes, reliable economic returns and clear value for money for the public purse. We believe that the combination of skills that we have brought together will enable Heathcotes to continue to grow successfully to meet the demand for its services whilst continuing the gold-standard in digital primary healthcare services by combining Doctorlink’s industry-leading tech tools with our existing platform and best-in-breed clinical operations.”
Rupert Spiegelberg, chief executive of Doctorlink, added: “I am delighted that Doctorlink will be able to take the next step of its journey within the HealthHero family of companies enabling it to offer a broader and deeper set of services to its customers and invest more in its world-beating technology platform.
“I have enjoyed every minute of what has been an incredible year for the company and believe we have found the right strategic fit for the business.” to place the needs of the service users and staff at the heart of its activities.”
Paul Marriner, chairman of Envivo Group added: “We are delighted to have partnered with Civitas and acquired the Heathcotes Group. Heathcotes is a well-respected, highquality care provider, and we are looking forward to working with their management team to invest in systems and infrastructure to further enhance their quality, that enables them to achieve excellent outcomes for people that the group supports, as part of the wider Envivo family.”
Brendan Kelly, managing director of Heathcotes, said: “I really welcome this new chapter in the development of Heathcotes. Envivo’s core values and focus on the best outcomes for the Healthtech start-up uMed has raised £3.7 million from investors AlbionVC, Delin Ventures and Playfair Capital, as well as Silicon Valley’s 11.2 Capital.
London-based uMed’s platform automates the clinical study process, creating patient registries that combine electronic health data with data from each patient which can include genomic and biomarker samples. This automation allows all healthcare providers, from GP practices to hospitals, to participate in multiple research programmes simultaneously. uMed founder Dr Matt Wilson said: “Our technology can support healthcare providers in finding appropriate patients to Brendan Kelly, managing director of Heathcotes
individuals we support, their families and our colleagues, is closely aligned with Heathcotes’ values. As we transition to new ownership, we are all looking forward to working together with the wider Envivo family over the coming months and years ahead.”
Civitas was advised on commercial due diligence by
Electronic health data start-up uMed raises £3.7m
Connell Consulting. participate in medical research, including large-scale patient registries which usually demands laborious, manual processes on top of their already complex and heavy workloads.
“As our technology is uniquely able to reach back compliantly from the electronic health record to the patients, the process for building research registries can be heavily automated. It means clinicians can focus on patient care, while patients are given the opportunity to participate in many more studies from home, with full transparency over use of their health records.”
In October last year, uMed secured almost £1 million in seed investment from Playfair Capital.
Medical technology
Kinomica secures £3.9m investment
Proteomic-data science and diagnostics company Kinomica has secured £3.9 million in funding.
Growth capital investor BGF, and healthcare, science and engineering investor, Longwall Venture Partners have invested £1.5 million each. Additional funding of £900,000 was secured via seed investors, including BioCity, Alderley Park Ventures, and Puffin Point, a family office in London.
Alderley Park, Cheshire-based Kinomica stated it will use the funding for technology that could help develop new drug treatments, notably KScan, a next-generation biomarker and molecular diagnostics platform, designed to aid the development of kinase inhibitor drugs for treating cancer patients and other conditions. It can be utilised at every stage of the drug development process, from generating novel drug targets, to investigating drug resistance and classifying patients for clinical trials. Kinomica has already secured commercial agreements with several blue-chip pharma companies including AstraZeneca. MediShout, an app for front line hospital staff to resolve facilities and equipment issues, has closed a £1 million seed round from venture capital fund Episode 1.
The app, founded by Londonbased NHS surgeon Ash Kalraiya, connects staff, equipment suppliers and service maintenance teams. It enables front line staff to report and resolve operational issues directly and easily using the app. By using data and artificial intelligence, MediShout predicts and prioritises issues in the hospital’s facilities and
The investment will be used to finance the rapid up-scale of operations, including facilities and equipment – to deliver a pipeline of projects. The organisation has plans to recruit a further 11 staff and two additional consultants by next June.
Jane Theaker, chief executive of Kinomica, said: “This marks a huge step forward for Kinomica and for KScan, as we look to the future of cancer treatment. Our pioneering technology offers much-needed equipment to ensure that patients can receive the best possible care.
Kalraiya said: “As a surgeon, I have all too often been delayed by items like lightbulbs in the theatre being broken, faulty equipment or not having the right stock when I need it. We founded MediShout to stop such frustrating issues from getting in the way of patient care. Our ultimate vision is to use AI and digital technologies to transform our hospitals into smart-buildings that run smoothly.”
The app is currently being support for the development of new precision medicines and represents a new approach to drug trials and treatments that will have a huge impact on patients’ lives.
“We are enormously grateful to our investors for their support as we look to a new era of research and development in the battle against cancer and other disease areas where an understanding of cell signalling is important.”
Rhys Davenport of BGF’s used by six hospitals and several equipment suppliers, and with this new round of funding, the team aims to expand to more than 20 hospitals in 18 months.
Carina Namih, partner at Episode 1 Ventures said: “Hospital facilities have been left behind by digital innovation for too long. As doctors and product designers, Northwest team, said: “Kinomica is a phenomenal example of earlystage life sciences innovation based in the Northwest. The business’s technology has the potential to provide insights to its pharma customer-base which help to identify drug targets, personalise treatments and develop diagnostics, that will transform patient outcomes. Led by chief executive Jane Theaker, the business is at a stage in its journey where this injection of capital could unlock significant growth.”
Rebecca Todd, investment director at Longwall Ventures, added: “As a specialist investor in healthcare, science and engineering, we are proud to be backing Kinomica and delighted to welcome the company to our portfolio. We recognise the importance of the groundbreaking science behind the company and the potential of the KScan platform to improve cancer treatment, ultimately saving more lives. We look forward to supporting the company to realise its ambitions in the coming years of exciting
App founded by NHS surgeon secures £1m seed investment
Ash Kalraiya, founder of Medishout
development.” this team really understands how technology and AI can help front line hospital staff be more effective. We are hugely excited by the positive impact that MediShout will have.”
Law firm Shakespeare Martineau advised Medishout on the investment process and terms from inception.
Medical technology
FPE Capital invests in digital mental health platform Togetherall
FPE Capital, a software and servicesfocused lower mid-market growth investor, has invested in Togetherall, a London-based mental health software-as-a-service platform. The investment is the eighth from FPE Fund II.
Togetherall delivers 24/7, clinically moderated support to low acuity users via its SaaSdelivered platform. The business has established a position in higher education and is expanding into the corporate and public health sectors. In the past 12 months the platform has supported over 85,000 members across its key markets in the UK, the US and Canada.
London-headquartered FPE’s investment is largely into primary funding to support Togetherall’s Start Codon, a life science and healthcare business accelerator based in Cambridge, has closed Start Codon Fund I LP at £15 million. The fund will be used to support Start Codon’s offering to start-ups, which includes a minimum of £250,000 seed funding, business support services, expert guidance, and access to office and lab facilities. Limited partner investors in the fund include Novartis International and Cambridge Innovation Capital. In addition to its investment in the fund, Novartis will work with Start Codon and its founders to select technologies and entrepreneurs to join the Start Codon business acceleration programme, which aims to translate early-stage research into successful companies, ready for funding and partnership. Novartis will also provide support and mentoring to the founders Henry Jones, chief executive, Togetherall
growth in North America.
David Barbour, managing partner at FPE, said: “FPE is delighted to have completed this growth investment into Togetherall. Our expertise is focused on investing in Dr Jason Mellad, co-founder and chief executive at Start Codon of the start-up companies, and opportunities for partnering as their research evolves.
Founded in 2019 with investment and support from Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, Cambridge Innovation Capital, the Babraham Research Campus through Babraham Bioscience high-quality companies operating in large markets where we can support the team in their growth ambitions.”
Henry Jones, chief executive of Togetherall, added: “We are excited to be partnering with experienced Technologies, Dr Jonathan Milner and Dr Ian Tomlinson, Start Codon plans to invest in and support up to 50 start-up companies over the next five years. Start Codon showcased its first cohort of companies in June and recently enrolled its second cohort of start-ups.
Dr Michael Anstey, partner at Cambridge Innovation Capital, said: “This venture fund will provide start-ups with the opportunity to kick-start their development and will bring novel and innovative ideas to commercialisation. We are delighted to have supported Start Codon since its inception and are excited to see it act as an important facilitator in creating success
Dr Jason Mellad, co-founder and chief executive at Start Codon, said: “This venture fund is part of our strategy to provide our entrepreneurs with the technology investors in FPE. Their experience in SaaS really sets them apart, and we are pleased to have them on board as we accelerate our growth into North America.”
FPE joins LGT IVUK as investors in Togetherall and FPE’s investment will make it the largest shareholder in the business. Henry Sallitt and Llewellyn John will join the board on completion.
FPE was advised on the transaction by Stephenson Harwood (legal), Luminii Consulting (commercial), Dow Schofield Watts (financial and tax), Intechnica (technical due diligence), and Continuum Ventures (management). Togetherall was advised by EY Corporate Finance
Start Codon closes new £15m venture for life science innovation
and Taylor Vinters. funding they need for start-up costs, such as in-licencing of IP, recruitment, and proof of concept studies. In addition, we provide the opportunity to network and learn from the most successful industry leaders in our sector. With both Genentech and Novartis on board to support our cohort companies in their development, and potentially provide opportunities for commercial partnerships in the future, we are extremely well-positioned to nurture and commercialise the next generation of world-class healthcare companies, which we hope will positively impact many patients’ lives.”
Start Codon is accepting applications for its next cohort of companies and early-stage startup companies in the life sciences and healthcare space are invited to apply.
