HealthKey, a pioneering UK Healthtech firm changing how healthcare is accessed and paid for, announced the closure of a €1.32 million seed round, led by Aviva Ventures, with support from Ascension, Oxford Capital, and Cur8 Capital. Founded by ex-Thriva and SeedLegals healthtech and engineering experts, David Joerring and Tudor Cotop, witnessed first-hand traditional healthcare’s struggle to unlock the power of preventative health and set about creating a solution capable of bridging the gap between payers and providers.
The company’s announcement also follows comments made in a speech at the Nuffield Health Summit by England’s Chief Medical Officer, Sir Chris Witty – who said that disease prevention is “absolutely critical” to ensuring the NHS does not “struggle substantially” in the future. By bridging the gap between payers and providers, HealthKey is making it easy for users to access a wide range of healthcare solutions and services. The company closes the seed round following a successful 9-month pilot with Aviva’s workforce that saw 800 people participate.
“So far, we’ve been driven by a singular mission to unlock and simplify access to everything you need to live a healthier life, which requires a shift in how health and well-being services are provided and paid for, and means putting the user in the driver seat and giving them more control. By creating an integrated network of health providers and payers, we can improve access to personalised health services, particularly in traditionally underfunded and underserved areas, such as early diagnosis, women’s health, mental health and neurodiversity,” commented David Joerring, HealthKey Co-Founder and CEO.
In January, data published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shared that UK life expectancy had fallen to its lowest level in a decade following the coronavirus pandemic, statistics which have had a number of senior UK medical professionals calling for a focus on preventative health.
“Access to healthcare is too often one-size-fits-all, where the limited personalisation of therapies available results in low adoption. Working in our field, we often see efforts to promote proactive and preventive health struggle to reach its full potential – and we wanted to change that,” added HealthKey’s Co-Founder and CTO, Tudor Cotop.
Central to HealthKey’s platform is giving users full ownership over which health services they access, and streamlining the payment process for health and well-being services from multiple payers sources, such as employers and insurers.
By giving its users one platform that combines information about employer healthcare policies, with access to a broad range of healthcare services, HealthKey’s solution makes proactive and preventative health accessible again for employees. With a platform that seamlessly integrates a diverse array of health and well-being products and services, HealthKey’s technology allows users to combine employer health budgets and insurance benefits, with salary sacrifice, and self-pay.
Some of the health and well-being products and services available on HealthKey include reproductive health specialists (The Lowdown, Bloomful, Hertility, Mojo, Yoxly), mental well-being (Mindstep, Cogs, Flow neuroscience), preventative healthcare experts (Scan.com, Thriva Health, Goodbody), weight loss and nutrition support (Fiit, Lingo, and The Gut Feeling), with health payers, such as insurers, employers, benefit platforms, and Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs).
With funding secured, HealthKey will now focus on further enhancing its platform’s capabilities, and expand the number of integrations with health and life insurers, health plan providers, and corporate employers, and broaden the range of health service providers available. After opening up its free plan, HealthKey is focused on making personalised therapies available to people looking to do more to manage preventative and proactive healthcare available to them.
Commenting on their investment in Healthkey, Ant Barker, Director of Venture Capital at Aviva Ventures, said: “HealthKey’s platform simplifies the way companies can provide vital health and wellbeing benefits to their people, making it easier and quicker for employees to access personalised services that they truly want. Our investment is another example of Aviva backing promising new UK tech companies, supporting growth in the sector whilst also gaining valuable insight into new trends and services for customers.”
