A startup that offers personalized health screenings for individuals and employees has just raised $1.2 million in fresh funds.
Berlin-based HealthCaters, which was founded three years ago, has developed a home-testing kit so that users can screen themselves for preventable diseases. The startup’s app, which is also powered by AI, then suggests personalized health guidelines based on the results of these screenings.
“After a typical doctor’s visit, people leave with a sheet of numbers that they don’t always understand,” said cofounder Tatyana Eliseeva. “But through our app, you can see all your health data after the screening, and we connect the dots to create a holistic picture.”
The screening box contains medical devices that can measure health factors from lung, cardiovascular, and metabolic health, to bladder function and blood sugar levels. The screening takes around 30 minutes, and the results are analyzed in-house at HealthCaters. Based on these results, medical coaches at the startup create an individual health plan for patients.
One of the main problems that the startup aims to solve is the affordable prevention of diseases. “The numbers show, the burden of chronic illness is increasing,” said Eliseeva. “It’s not possible to prevent things if people aren’t accepted into the health system to begin with.”
Preventative healthcare is having its moment, with tech moguls like Daniel Ek launching upstarts in the space. Eliseeva hopes that the momentum will create a shift towards tackling chronic illnesses more effectively.
The startup makes its money in two ways. It offers individual plans starting at €39 euros (around $41), and also partners with businesses such as IBM and WeWork to offer their service as an employee benefit.
“We started partnering with top employers and insurance companies in Germany and Europe. There’s such a need for companies to decrease sickness costs,” said cofounder Dr. Lilia Kruse.
Healthtech startups have seen over a 45% year-on-year decline in funding so far — and the duo found the funding process “difficult to navigate” amid a slumped tech market.
The seed round was led by the venture capital arm of German insurance company Barmenia Next Strategies, with additional participation from DvH Ventures and Venpace.
With the fresh funding, HealthCaters will double down on its business-to-business offerings, and eye a launch in the UK market.
Check out the 14-slide pitch deck used to secure the capital:
Read the full article here