Shantel
PocDoc, the Cambridge-based digital health platform today announces a new fundraise, adding £2.5M to its Seed round, taking total investment raised at Seed stage by the company to £5M.
This extension round was led by existing investors Forward Partners and MMC Ventures and sees Simplyhealth Ventures join alongside notable angel investors including founders of Graze and Skin + Me and the owners of Mclaren and TAG Heuer.
As part of this round, the company has also added ex Axa Healthcare CEO Keith Gibbs as Chair. Keith has extensive experience in healthcare and his commercial expertise will supercharge the company’s already impressive commercial growth.
PocDoc is an app-based technology platform that combines proprietary lateral flow tests and cloud-based AI diagnostics to deliver end to end digital pathways for the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of major diseases. PocDoc is initially focusing initially on cardiovascular disease, where access to full 5 marker cholesterol testing is a major obstacle to diagnosis and treatment.
PocDoc is able to deliver the full end-to-end cardiovascular health check pathway, including a quantified, lab-grade 5 marker cholesterol test with results in the app, in under 10 minutes per person.
There are 7.6 million people living with CVD in the UK, and Cardiovascular Disease is a leading cause of premature disability, mortality, and health inequalities, and responsible for one in four deaths each year (British Heart Foundation UK Factsheet).
The UK Health Security Agency estimates that the annual healthcare costs in England relating to CVD are around £7.4 billion, with an annual cost to the wider economy of £15.8 billion.
CVD has been identified as the single biggest condition where lives can be saved by the NHS over the next decade.
In addition to a growing pharmacy customer base, PocDoc has recently been awarded 2 major NHS contracts to dramatically increase access to cholesterol testing outside of a traditional GP surgery environment, including at-home, on the high street and in other community settings.
Steve Roest, CEO of PocDoc, says “We are excited to announce this investment which is a huge statement of confidence from our investors that we have a unique approach to solving a major global problem in healthcare – how to truly increase access and treat people faster, without adding further burden onto clinicians. We are thrilled to add Simplyhealth Ventures and look forward to working with them as we look forward to growing in the UK and beyond in the next 12 months. “
Luke Smith, Investment Partner at Forward Partners, says “We’re pleased to help support PocDoc with the round. Steve and the team have built a fantastic product that can improve access to testing and follow on treatment for cardiovascular disease, which is a huge issue for people across the UK – and the world. The involvement of further high-profile investors and a fantastic new Chair strengthens the business and further validates their approach. We look forward to seeing their progress in the coming months.”
Bruce Macfarlane, Managing Partner of MMC Ventures, says “PocDoc has made excellent progress in achieving regulatory approvals – a major inflexion point for unlocking growth. The technology delivers a step change in advancing the future of blood testing and personal diagnostics, and we couldn’t be happier to continue our support to Steve, Kiran, Vladimir and the team.”
Nick Potter, Acting CEO of Simplyhealth, says “Making it quicker and simpler to access diagnostic testing at home aligns perfectly to our purpose of improving access to healthcare for all in the UK. PocDoc does exactly that. We are proud to join Steve and his team, as well as our fellow investors, at this stage of the company’s evolution. Through investing in digital healthcare companies, such as PocDoc, we can help revolutionise the provision of predictive and preventative services across the changing healthcare landscape in the coming years.”
About PocDoc:
Founded by Dr Kiran Roest, Dr Vladimir Gubala and Steve Roest, PocDoc’s mission is to make diagnostic testing as accessible and affordable as possible. The PocDoc platform allows anyone with a smartphone or tablet to test themselves for a range of major diseases and conditions, receive a full health assessment and be offered solutions to address any health-related issues that arise, including real-time prescription of medication and clinical support.
The PocDoc® platform has been designed to work with the company’s own set of proprietary, quantitative blood tests which have been developed in house and are focused on preventative disease areas, starting with cardiovascular disease.
PocDoc has a number of NHS contracts, has won multiple Innovate UK awards, an SBRI award and a MedTech Breakthrough Award.
Its technology has CA and CE marks and is patented in Europe and the US.
About Steve Roest:
Steve is the CEO and founder of PocDoc, where he has raised multiple rounds of private investment, is a multiple time Innovate UK grant award winner, as well as a member of the UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders review board.
Steve is a huge advocate for innovation and pushing boundaries of what is possible with technology. He is passionate about the people and companies who are changing the world, especially in HealthTech and Healthcare.
Steve presents the HealthTech Hour on UK Health Radio which was born from his desire to provide a showcase for companies, leaders, founders, CEOs and clinicians who are genuinely changing the world, leading the healthcare revolution in the UK and beyond. Notable guests include Matt Hancock, Ali Parsa and Jessica Ennis Hill among others.
The show, which has over 60,000 listeners live per week, with more listening on demand via Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music and Google Podcasts and YouTube, focuses on the unique journeys of each guest, how they are changing the world and how they stay on their mission.
