UK startup Babylon Health has scored $100 million (£74.5m) in a convertible loan led by Swedish listed fund VNV Global.

The new investment is part of the financial round of 2019, which saw the firm raise $550 million (£410m) in Series C funding.

VNV Global invested the full $100 million round in Babylon through Global Health Equity, a newly established company within the VNV Global group. $35 million (£26.1m) is VNV’s investment and the rest is from external investors.

WHAT IT DOES

In the UK, Babylon provides digital triage and virtual consultations through its GP at Hand  service, which includes a chatbot app.

Recently the firm has also expanded into the US, Canada and Rwanda and has around 6.4 million registered users worldwide.

WHAT IT’S FOR

Babylon will use the new funding to continue to invest in its international expansion, increased focus on value-based care and ongoing product development.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Digital triage and remote consultation tools have been in high demand since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this year, Poland-based digital symptom checker and triage system Infermedica closed its Series A funding round with $10.25 million (£7.6m). The funds are to support its R&D efforts and expand its current features. In May, the startup announced that it was collaborating with Microsoft to provide its automated triage technology to the Microsoft Healthcare Bot service. 

UK online triage firm eConsult’s has joined forces with Q doctor’s video consultation technology and Cognitant Group’s ‘Healthinote’ information service to create a digital triage toolbar for NHS GPs. Patients can submit medical history questionnaires directly to their GPs through the platform. eConsult also recently added HCI’s medical video library to its tool.

Meanwhile London-based virtual care company HealthHero recently acquired digital triage platform Doctorlink. HealthHero’s platform allows users to tap into medical services through video calls, online chats and phone calls.

ON THE RECORD

VNV Global’s CEO, Per Brilioth said: “We are excited to invest additional capital in Babylon alongside other new investors. All in all, we have now invested almost $128 million from our own balance sheet and another $65 million is invested from other investors in Babylon through Global Health Equity. This financing will allow Babylon to continue to fuel its strong growth that we have seen since their series C fundraising in 2019. We look forward to continuing to support Babylon and believe that the visibility into the company’s vast potential will increase significantly over 2021 and beyond.”