Today, Holly Health, a pioneering personalised digital health coaching platform, announces success in securing £650k in an investment and grant funding round, including £323k funding from Innovate UK, as part of the Future Economy Investor Partnerships scheme. The round sees participation from UK and international investors, including the Innovation SuperNetwork, Plug and Play Ventures, and award-winning NHS primary and community services provider, Modality Partnership, emphasising a shared commitment to addressing the escalating multimorbidity challenge.
Multimorbidity (living with 2 or more chronic health conditions) affects over 1 in 4 adults and is on the rise. Chronic conditions contribute significantly to the NHS's financial burden (e.g. cardiovascular disease costs the NHS £7.4 billion annually), however, most are largely preventable through lifestyle changes, when given the right support. Holly Health aims to reduce healthcare costs by providing affordable, personalised support to millions.
Holly Health, already partnered with over 150 GP (Primary Care) practices, is dedicated to addressing the growing challenge, through fully digital, personalised coaching support. The funding will help to propel Holly Health to advance its AI coaching service, with an initial multimorbidity focus on hypertension plus mental health challenges.
Grace Gimson, Co-founder and CEO of Holly Health, comments , "Over 30% of hypertension patients are affected by anxiety or depression, impacting their ability to manage lifestyle behaviours consistently. At Holly Health, we have supported over 30,000 people so far and are committed to innovating to solve our biggest human and healthcare challenges. This funding marks a pivotal moment - with the support of Innovate UK and the strategic investment from Modality Partnership, we are empowered to combat the complex and unresolved challenge of multimorbidity."
Modality Partnership highlighted its commitment to transformative healthcare solutions through the collaboration. "We are delighted to join forces with Holly Health and accelerate our efforts to tackle the growing challenges posed by multimorbidity. We believe Holly Health has great potential to make a meaningful difference in the UK and beyond," said Vincent Sai, Group CEO and Partner at Modality.
The 12-month project will engage the public and NHS clinicians in co-designing a hypertension and mental health-focused service. Leveraging AI capabilities, Holly Health aims to enhance its behaviour change service, across exercise, sleep, nutrition and mental wellbeing, in turn, impacting blood pressure management. The project features a three-month RCT focusing on patients with hypertension and depression/anxiety with Northumbria Primary Care. Product innovation will develop beyond the current state of the art, introducing Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to interpret live user mood, energy, and blood pressure data.
Northumbria Primary Care comments: "We are delighted to join Holly Health as a healthcare research partner. We are particularly excited about the upcoming Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), where we will be closely examining the clinical impact of providing Holly Health's innovative solutions to a specific cohort dealing with hypertension and comorbid depression/anxiety. This aligns with our dedication to pioneering research and finding practical, patient-centric solutions to enhance healthcare outcomes."
Holly Health Chief Science Officer, Dr Daniela Beivide comments: “The EMA system will help us to build the foundation of a cutting-edge nudging engine that provides the right type of coaching message to individuals, at the right time. This approach will learn from each user’s unique context to provide relevant support, which ultimately leads to better health outcomes on an individual level.”
In the coming years, Holly Health will embark on an ambitious expansion plan, forging new partnerships, especially with UK NHS partners and international health insurance providers, while broadening services, with a mission to support 5 million people to achieve tangible health changes in the next 5 years.
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