The UK’s largest ever pre-A funding round for a digital diagnostics company has been announced today by Cambridge-based health-tech startup, PocDoc.
The company, which was launched in 2020, is revolutionising access to cardio, metabolic, and renal diseases by enabling patients to use smartphone-based technology to undertake screenings that provide almost instant results in workplaces, communities and at home.
This most recent heavily oversubscribed funding round has seen the business raise £5m from leading investors MMC Ventures, Molten VC and Simplyhealth Ventures. A fourth major investor joining in this round is KHP Ventures, the first NHS-anchored venture fund, which invests in health tech innovators and supports the adoption of transformative solutions at scale across digital health and MedTech.
The conclusion of this round brings the total pre-A funding raised by PocDoc to over £10m, the largest raise at this stage for a UK digital diagnostics business. This new investment will support the company’s continued rapid growth, fuelled by its growing list of pharmacy, retail, and corporate partnerships, as well as its deepening relationships with the NHS across the UK.
2024 has been a breakthrough year for PocDoc, with explosive growth in both public and private sectors. In the summer, it unveiled its first-of-its kind integration into the NHS app, enabling patients to undertake its ‘Healthy Heart Check’ - a point-of-care diagnostic test for Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) that lets patients see their results immediately in the NHS app.
To date, the Healthy Heart Check service has been used by tens of thousands of patients across the country and patient feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with 97% saying they would recommend the service to a family member or friend.
With the NHS actively seeking to make digital health checks more widely available, PocDoc has been commissioned in a number of NHS regions to increase access to critical screening for cardio, metabolic and renal diseases, particularly in areas of health inequality.
In the pharmacy sector, PocDoc’s commitment to Community Pharmacy has continued apace. The business has launched a national partnership with Asda, while continuing to scale its relationship with Pharmacy2U and Lincolnshire Co-op Pharmacy. A number of other notable high street chains are set to launch PocDoc’s Healthy Heart Check before the end of the year.
PocDoc’s growth is being turbocharged by wider health trends and the focus of the NHS on 3 shifts – ‘Analogue to Digital’, ‘Hospital to Home & Community’ and ‘Sick Care to Prevention’. With chronic conditions such as CVD and diabetes costing the NHS billions a year, the promise of rapid screening for cardio, renal, metabolic and whole-body health in workplaces, communities and home is substantial. One study, for example, finds it could save the NHS £27bn over the next 10 years in reduced costs and help save up to 1m people annually from heart attacks and strokes.
It also explains why the investor community is viewing PocDoc’s proprietary and patented technology with such confidence, with the company perfectly positioned to continue its rapid ascent in a market worth over $200bn globally.
PocDoc’s tests are available for free in regions where the company is already working with the NHS, in community pharmacies across the UK, via online retailers such as Pharmacy2U, and on PocDoc’s website.
