Digital health coaching platform Holly Health has secured £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 Modality Partnership, emphasising a shared commitment to addressing the escalating multimorbidity challenge.
Multimorbidity (living with two or more chronic health conditions) affects over one in four adults and is on the rise.
Chronic conditions contribute significantly to the NHS’s financial burden, 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 of people.
Holly Health has already partnered with over 150 GP practices and is dedicated to addressing the growing challenge, through fully digital, personalised coaching support, the company said in a press release.
The funding will help the company 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, said: “Over 30 per cent 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.”
Vincent Sai, Group CEO and Partner at Modality, added: “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.”
The 12-month project will engage NHS clinicians and the public in co-designing a hypertension and mental health-focused service.
Leveraging its 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 focused 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.
A Northumbria Primary Care spokesperson said: “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.”
