After a bruising 2023, there are some signs that funding for digital health startups in Europe is on the mend in 2024.
The sector picked up just $1.2bn last year, according to Dealroom — the lowest figure since 2018 and a long drop from the $3.1bn raised during the heady days of 2021. That sum has already been reached so far in 2024 — courtesy of the return of a couple of nine-figure funding rounds — and there’s still two months left to play with.
The three biggest digital health equity raises of 2024 — period tracking app Flo’s $200m, insurtech Alan’s $173m and surgery platform Caresyntax’s $80m — all topped 2023’s largest, digi-physical health platform Patient21’s €70m Series C.
There are, however, still big challenges commercialising. Founders tell Sifted it remains difficult selling into fragmented public health systems across Europe, and no startup has yet managed to hit real scale with a direct-to-consumer healthcare product in the region.
Despite that, startups doing both of those things have seen real growth in the past year.
Using employee data from the startups and Dealroom, Sifted has tracked down the 10 fastest-growing digital health startups in Europe across the past 12 months. All employee data was confirmed with the companies unless otherwise stated.
To avoid results being skewed by early-stage startups making lots of hires while growing quickly, businesses needed to have raised at least $30m and have at least 50 employees to be considered.
Fastest-growing digital health teams
Ouihelp
HQ: Paris, France
Founded: 2016
Headcount growth over the past 12 months: 279% to 1,480 employees
Ouihelp is a recruitment platform for carers for the elderly. Its huge employee growth is due to the company acquiring five companies between April and July this year. It last raised in a €30m round in 2022, from investors including XAnge, Creadev and Future Positive Capital, taking its total funding to $36.6m.
Manual
HQ: London, UK
Founded: 2018
Headcount growth over the past 12 months: 86% to 260 employees
Manual is a UK-based startup selling medication and supplements for men’s health conditions, like erectile dysfunction, hair loss and — increasingly — weight loss.
The startup’s growth coincides with the rise of a new class of weight loss drugs — GLP-1 meds, which go by brand names like Ozempic and Wegovy. While manufacturers have previously struggled to keep up with demand for the drug, supply chain issues are now improving, and Manual is one of a number of European startups looking to tap into the wave of consumer interest in using GLP-1 drugs for weight loss.
Manual most recently raised in a £29m round, which Sifted scooped in September, taking its total funding to $73.4m. Investors include Felix Capital, Cherry Ventures and Octopus Ventures.
Lottie
HQ: London, UK
Founded: 2021
Headcount growth over the past 12 months: 84% to 68 employees
Lottie is a comparison website for care homes. It last raised in a $21m Series A in 2023 featuring Accel and General Catalyst, taking its total funding to $32m.
Qantev
HQ: Paris, France
Founded: 2019
Headcount growth over the past 12 months: 78% to 71 employees
Qantev is an AI-powered platform which helps health insurers assess claims. It raised €30m in September this year from investors including Blossom Capital, Elaia and Omnes, to take its total funding to $48m. Qantev currently counts insurance giants like AXA, Generali and FWD among its customers.
Doccla
HQ: London, UK
Founded: 2019
Headcount growth over the past 12 months: 77% to 188 employees
Doccla is building “virtual ward” technology for healthcare providers — which allows patients to be monitored outside of hospital. The startup helps clinicians to monitor patients at home by providing them with devices to measure health factors like blood pressure and heart rate.
Doccla most recently raised a £35m Series B in September this year — from investors including Lakestar and General Catalyst — on the back of quadrupling revenue in 2023. It’s raised $75m since launching.
Cera
HQ: London, UK
Founded: 2016
Headcount growth over the past 12 months: 41% to 818 employees (Dealroom data)
Cera helps elderly patients and their carers manage at-home healthcare via an app on which users can log symptoms and schedule appointments. It also has a recruiting platform for care providers.
Since raising a £260m round made up of roughly half equity and half debt in the summer of 2022, Cera has been on a growth trajectory. It also made it onto Sifted’s list of Europe’s fastest-growing digital health startups in 2023. The company has raised a total of $316m in equity.
Formel Skin
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Founded: 2019
Headcount growth over the past 12 months: 35% to 85 employees
Formel Skin is a dermatology startup which offers consumers tailored skincare plans and consultations with medical professionals. It last raised in a €30m round in 2021 and expanded from its home market of Germany into Brazil the following year. Investors include Heartcore Capital, Cherry Ventures and Vorwerk Ventures.
Gravitiq
HQ: London, UK
Founded: 2021
Headcount growth over the past 12 months: 29% to 51 employees (Dealroom data)
Gravitiq is an aggregator of healthcare and personal care brands. It has raised $53.6m from investors including CoVenture and Crossbeam Venture Partners.
IFeel
HQ: Madrid, Spain
Founded: 2017
Headcount growth over the past 12 months: 25% to 111 employees
IFeel is a workplace mental healthcare platform. It last raised in a $20m Series B in May this year from investors including Nauta Capital and UNIQA Ventures. The round took the startup’s total funding to $40m.
Flo
HQ: London
Founded: 2015
Headcount growth over the past 12 months: 15% to 500 employees
One of the biggest stories this year on Europe’s healthtech scene is Flo’s huge $200m raise. The Series C round — which saw General Atlantic, previously a backer of the likes of Uber and Klarna, commit all the cash — made headlines for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, it was the joint-biggest raise for a femtech — along with US fertility startup Prelude Fertility — and the biggest ever for a digital-only femtech. Flo also became Europe’s first femtech unicorn as its valuation topped the $1bn mark.
But the raise also sparked a backlash online, with many arguing that Flo’s all-male founding team pointed towards systemic issues in the funding landscape for women founders in Europe.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/europe-digital-health-startup-growth/
