Healum closes investment round to rollout UKRI funded AI powered patient management system for people with long term conditions

MANCHESTER, England, March 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Healum, a leading digital health company, known for developing a ground-breaking AI powered patient management system to improve health outcomes and quality of life for people with long term conditions, has raised funding from NPIF – Maven Equity Finance, managed by Maven and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and Catapult Ventures acting on behalf of the Greater Manchester and Cheshire Life Sciences Fund.

The investments will be used to expand the company's operations in Greater Manchester and to aid healthcare professionals in delivering programmes of remote care, support and behaviour change for people with long term conditions through its unique use of its AI powered clinical software.

The investment follows the backing of UKRI through a £530K grant to develop an AI platform that provides healthcare professionals with recommendations for managing patients with long term conditions at the point of care. The company is disrupting the way that AI is developed in healthcare, favouring an approach where AI is used to assist healthcare professionals rather than replace healthcare professionals.

The UKRI-funded project, under the Digital Health Technology Catalyst (DHTC) programme, part of the Medicines Manufacturing Challenge, helped the company to develop the machine learning algorithms that power recommendations in its patient management system by crowdsourcing the training of the algorithms using inputs from networks of healthcare professionals. This disrupts the approach to AI in healthcare by putting healthcare professionals in control of the development and training of the artificial intelligence and ensuring that trust, privacy, safety and diversity come first when using AI to support patients to manage their conditions. The company believes that this approach can help to overcome the issues around trust and algorithmic bias in existing AI solutions that have been developed for use in healthcare.

The investments will also help to bolster Healum's existing clinical research partnerships with NIHR, Greater Manchester CRN and Vernova Healthcare CIC, with whom it is delivering a randomised control trial as part of its Innovate UK project to assess the impact of Healum's smart remote patient management solutions in aiding primary care teams to improve health outcomes for patients with type 2 diabetes. Over the next year, the company will build on its partnerships across the region to launch a live learning research network that powers the inference models behind its integrated patient management system and care planning software.

The company chose Greater Manchester rather than London as a base for its future operations, citing the devolved and integrated nature of the region's health and social care provision as the main reason for the decision. Anuj Saboo, CTO and co-founder of Healum, commented: "Greater Manchester is the only place in the UK that can provide us the data partnerships, research support, diverse population and integrated health and social care practices that will enable us to give healthcare professionals the control and trust in the unbiased intelligence that powers our patient management system."

Healum was previously part of the Greater Manchester Future of Healthcare Programme run by UP Ventures Group, where the team came to understand the benefits of focussing its efforts in the North and were introduced to investors Catapult Ventures and Maven Capital Partners. Danny Meaney, CEO at UP Ventures Group said: "Congratulations to Jonathan and the team at Healum. It was clear to us at UP that Healum had a world class healthtech product as well as the drive and business intelligence to see it through to success. We are delighted to have played our part by opening the right doors to match the team with the right investors."

Healum's co-founder and CEO, Jonathan Abraham, said: "We are delighted to have received investment from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and the Greater Manchester and Cheshire Life Sciences Fund. This gives us the opportunity to build on our existing clinical and research partnerships in Greater Manchester, to tap into the wealth of talent in the region and to play our part in championing innovations that will help individuals with long-term conditions manage their health so they can live longer, more fulfilling lives."

Chris Sawyer, Innovation Lead for Digital Health at UKRI said: "We are delighted to see that Healum has now raised further investment to maximise the commercial, medical and research impacts of its Innovate UK project, and has decided to play its part in driving health technology innovation as part of the regions northern powerhouse strategy."

Gavin Bell from Maven Capital Partners said: "We're delighted to support Healum as they embark on a programme of growth. The investment is a great example of local funds working in partnership to provide a growing business with a finance package to enable its expansion plans. We look forward to working with the team and supporting healthcare technology innovation in the North West."

Vijay Curthan from Catapult Ventures said: "We are delighted to be supporting Healum on its expansion into the Greater Manchester area and on its development of the AI powered patient management system, which we believe will drive a paradigm shift in the manner in which healthcare professionals deliver holistic care to people with long term conditions."

Sue Barnard from British Business Bank said: "It is one of NPIF's key goals to ensure businesses looking to scale their operations in the North have access to the right kind of investment, as in turn this will help to create new jobs and boost the regional economy post- pandemic. Life Sciences is a thriving sector with an incredible network here in the North, and NPIF is proud to support growing businesses such as Healum realise their full potential and welcome them to the Northern Powerhouse region."

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.

About Healum

Healum is a digital health company with a mission to improve the health of 100 million people by creating digital solutions that enable health professionals to support people with long-term conditions.

Healum's suite of patient facing digital products and accompanying patient management software have enabled healthcare professionals to utilise the power of behavioural science and Artificial Intelligence to deliver personalised support to more patients, more of the time and at a lower cost in order to achieve better health outcomes. Healum's software has made it easier for Healthcare professionals to collaborate with each other and to view the insights from the interventions that their peers have made in supporting patients.

About Maven Capital Partners

Maven Capital Partners is an independent alternative asset manager, with over £660 million of assets under management and available to invest. Maven was formed in 2009 after a buyout of the Aberdeen Asset Management private equity business and operates from a nationwide network of regional offices. We provide flexible equity and loan finance packages to UK businesses, as well as funding for well-researched property development projects. We also offer attractive investment opportunities into VCTs, and direct co-investment in private equity and property transactions.

About GM & Cheshire Life Sciences Fund

Managed by Catapult Ventures, the GM & Cheshire Life Sciences Fund is a seed and early stage venture capital fund targeting life sciences businesses located in the Greater Manchester and Cheshire & Warrington region.

The Fund is the result of a collaboration between Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Cheshire East Council, and Manchester Science Partnerships and can be invested in 'Life Science' businesses across the following sectors: pharmaceutical, biotechnology, Diagnostics, Life Science contract research organisations (CRO), Healthcare technologies and Medical devices. With contributions from both private and public-sector partners, the size of the Fund, at launch, is around £31m. Full details can be found at: www.gmclifesciencesfund.com

About Catapult Ventures

Catapult Ventures is an independent venture capital fund manager that has been investing in UK businesses since 2002. Catapult's owners have operated discrete funds on behalf of public and private sector investors totalling c. £130m, including the GM&C Life Sciences Fund. Since 2015 Catapult has recorded 13 profitable exits averaging 4.8x money multiple, including Accutronics (9.1x), Lumora (4.7x), Oxford Cryosystems (5.2x), Systems Integration (4.9x), Monica Healthcare (3.6x), BWB Consulting (3.2x), Hangar7 (3x), Stagecoach (2x), Yospace (6.9x), R2C Online (12.6x) and Oracle Care and Education (3.4x). Catapult Ventures and Catapult Ventures Group are trading names of Catapult Ultimate Holdings Ltd, which is the ultimate holding company of Catapult Venture Managers Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

www.catapult-ventures.com

About UK Research and Innovation

This project has been funded by the digital health technology catalysts (DHTC) programme, part of the medicines manufacturing challenge, delivered by UK Research and Innovation. Through the medicines manufacturing challenge more than £180 million will be invested in infrastructure and projects which focus on accelerating the development and manufacture of new medicines and treatments, including vaccines. Like other challenges it brings together the UK's world-leading research with business to meet the major industrial and societal challenges of our time. It provides funding and support to UK businesses and researchers, part of the government's £4.7 billion increase in research and development over the next 4 year and plays a central role in the Government's modern industrial strategy. UK Research and Innovation brings together the UK Research Councils, Innovate UK and Research England into a single organisation to create the best environment for research and innovation to flourish. The vision is to ensure the UK maintains its world- leading position in research and innovation. For more information visit www.ukri.org

About UP:

UP enables large organisations and startups to create effective innovation and build value together. Our innovation programmes are backed by governments and some of the world's biggest brands who share our commitment to helping tech startups and scale-ups succeed. We work with businesses big and small to help them diversify their thinking, solve problems and make products and services that matter. And we get businesses investment ready and help them secure smart finance from investors who bring more than money.

About The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund will invest in Microfinance, Business Loans and Equity Finance sub- funds which will offer financing ranging from £25,000 to £2m, specifically to help small and medium sized businesses secure the funding they need for growth and development.

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund is operated by British Business Financial Services Limited, wholly owned by British Business Bank, the UK's national economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity.

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund is supported by the European Regional Development Fund, the European Investment Bank, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and British Business Finance Limited, a British Business Bank group company.

The NPIF covers the following LEP areas: Tees Valley Combined Authority, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Warrington, Cumbria, Liverpool City Region, Lancashire, Humber, Leeds City Region, Sheffield City Region, York, North Yorkshire and East Riding.

The project is receiving up to £140,359,192 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund.

Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.

The funds in which Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund invests are open to businesses with material operations, or planning to open material operations, in, Yorkshire and the Humber, the North West and Tees Valley.

The British Business Bank has published the Business Finance Guide (in partnership with the ICAEW, and a further 21 business and finance organisations). The guide, which impartially sets out the range finance options available to businesses and provides links to support available at a regional level, is available at www.thebusinessfinanceguide.co.uk/bbb

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SOURCE Healum Ltd