Editor's Note
Switched Off
I've been thinking a lot lately about how much noise we're all operating in.
Not just notifications. The broader kind. More content, more data, more tools telling you how to optimise every corner of your life. Health tech is one of the biggest contributors to it. Every week I write about another product adding another layer of insight, another score, another thing to act on.
Almost everybody I speak to feels overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information. And yet even the people building these products tell me what they really crave is time in real life, with interesting people.
Nicola Gunby saw this coming before most. She built CLIQ not to give people more to look at, but to get them off their phones and into real life with people they actually want to spend time with.
I sat down with her this week to talk about why she built it, and what it takes to pull people back into the real world.
Industry News
UK and France Agree AI Health Research Partnership
The UK and French governments have signed a science and technology partnership targeting women's health and infectious disease. Research teams from both countries will use AI, shared data and advanced imaging to speed up diagnosis and treatment, backed by almost £900,000 of UK government funding for the initial phase. (gov.uk)
Why it matters: Cross-border research partnerships are hard to build without government infrastructure behind them. This deal opens up shared data, computing and clinical networks for companies working in women's health or infectious disease.
Oura Files Confidentially for IPO
Finnish health tracker maker Oura has submitted a draft registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a potential IPO. The company was valued at $11 billion following a $900m Series E last October, is projecting close to $2 billion in revenue for 2026, and is on track to surpass five million paid members this quarter. (euronews.com)
Why it matters: Oura's pitch to public markets is built on its shift from device maker to subscription health platform. Hardware gets people in; software keeps them paying. If the valuation holds, I'd expect others like Whoop to follow with their own IPO soon.
A Big Week for Oura - Ring 5 Is Also Here
Alongside the IPO news, Oura unveiled its Ring 5 on 28 May, describing it as the world's smallest smart ring. It is 40% smaller than the Ring 4, starts at $399, and begins shipping on 4 June. New features rolling out with it include blood pressure signals, nighttime breathing tracking and live activity monitoring. (techcrunch.com)
Why it matters: Launching a new product the same week as an IPO filing is deliberate. Oura needs to show it can keep improving the hardware while it courts public markets. The Ring 5 also makes the case that in wearables, smaller and more accurate is now a stronger product story than adding more sensors.
Noom Launches At-Home Biomarker Testing for Members
Noom has launched an at-home biomarker testing kit for its US members, tracking 17 markers across metabolic, cardiovascular, hormonal and inflammatory categories. Members collect a small blood sample using a Tasso+ device and receive results within a week via the Noom app, where they feed directly into coaching, GLP-1 and medication programmes. (insider.fitt.co)
Why it matters: Noom is closing the loop between bloodwork and behaviour change in one product. Companies that started in coaching are now adding diagnostics, and companies that started in diagnostics are adding coaching. Early data from Noom's own programme found 70% of users considered healthy had elevated LDL cholesterol, which tells you something about how much is going undetected.
SOND Exits Stealth with $7m and AI Sleep Earbuds
SOND, a Boston-based startup co-founded by Yadid Ayzenberg, Bose's former Head of Global Sleep Products, has emerged from stealth with $7m in seed funding and its debut product, Dreambuds. The in-ear device tracks 12 physiological signals in real time and uses a cloud-based AI coach to adapt audio programmes through the night based on what it reads. (techcrunch.com)
Why it matters: Most sleep earbuds play calming sounds and stop there. Dreambuds tracks sleep signals and adjusts in real time based on what it detects, making it closer to an active intervention than a noise mask. Reservations are open now ahead of a crowdfunding campaign.
Investment Updates
Lucis, $20m Series A (tech.eu) - Paris-based preventive health platform Lucis, which analyses more than 110 blood biomarkers and delivers AI-powered guidance through a companion app, raised a $20m Series A led by Singular, with participation from General Catalyst and Y Combinator, four months after its $8m seed.
Nourish, $100m Series C (insider.fitt.co) - US-based dietitian-led metabolic health clinic Nourish raised a $100m Series C led by Menlo Ventures, bringing total funding to $215m, to expand its clinical network and build out AI agents for patients and providers.
GymNation, $100m private credit facility (insider.fitt.co) - Middle East gym operator GymNation, which runs close to 50 locations across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, secured a $100m private credit facility from HPS Investment Partners, part of BlackRock, to fund expansion across the GCC and into Asia.
Garner Health, $100m Series E (bloomberg.com) - US care navigation platform Garner Health, which uses data from over 60 billion medical records to rank doctors by quality and cost, raised a $100m Series E at a $2.74bn valuation, led by Index Ventures.
Kin Health, $9m Seed (finsmes.com) - Los Angeles-based Kin Health, which builds a free app that records doctor visits and converts them into plain-language summaries for patients, raised a $9m seed round led by Maveron.
The Health Stack Podcast
Episode #06 - Full Episode
Nicola Gunby, Co-Founder & CMO of CLIQ
Nicola Gunby on building CLIQ, the app helping people get off their phones and into real life, and what it takes to pull people back into genuine community.
Roles Worth Knowing About
Senior Product Designer - Eucalyptus
London, Hybrid (3 days/week, Old Street)
Eucalyptus is the company behind Juniper, one of the world's largest GLP-1-based weight management programmes. This is the second design hire on the UK team, working across the app, internal tooling and discovery for UK-focused product squads.
Senior Software Engineer (Full Stack) - Flatiron Health
London, On-Site
Flatiron Health is a cancer data and health technology company, an independent Roche affiliate, that turns real-world patient experience into clinical evidence. This role builds and maintains technology in partnership with engineering teams across the US, UK, Germany and Japan.
VP Product - Lindus Health
London, Hybrid
Lindus Health runs faster, more reliable clinical trials for life science companies, and has powered over 100 trials since 2021 backed by a $55m Series B. The VP Product will own product strategy and roadmap and build out the product management function, reporting to the CPTO.
Senior Machine Learning Engineer - Limbic
London, Hybrid
Limbic builds AI tools for mental health, currently used across 40% of the NHS. This role works on the machine learning models that power Limbic's clinical platform.
Head of Product - Lilli
UK, Remote
Lilli is a technology-enabled care company that uses unobtrusive home sensors and AI to help vulnerable people live safely and independently for longer, working with local councils and NHS trusts across the UK. The Head of Product will own strategy and roadmap for a platform with growing NHS contract volume and an active scale-up programme.
That's it for Issue #12.
If you found this useful, forward it to one founder or investor in your network who'd get value from it. Reply with anything you'd like to see more of. I read every response.
