Editor's Note
What is the real product?
This week I built my first fitness agent.
I connected the new Strava MCP to Claude and pulled in my Oura data, my coach's notes and my training plan. Every morning at 6am it reviews my data and sets me up for the day.
This got me thinking about how we interact with our phones. Since the launch of the iPhone in 2007 the app has been the product. Everything was designed to keep you coming back to the screen.
This week Strava gave users the ability to understand their training without ever opening the app. In the same week healthcare platform Eternal gave users their data as a weekly personalised podcast.
Make no mistake, the way we interact with the world is changing. In a few years the thought of clicking through an app on a screen to see how you slept will feel completely alien.
For anyone building app-first, this is the question to sit with. If your app disappeared tomorrow, what would be left for your users?
Industry News
Flo tops Europe's first Consumer 100
Sifted published its inaugural Consumer 100, ranking Europe's breakout consumer tech startups on real adoption rather than funding. Women's health app Flo took the top spot, with Neko Health third and Maurten, Numan and Healf also on the list. (Sifted)
Why it matters. Around a fifth of the top 100 could broadly be considered health products, a clear signal that this is no longer a niche category, and seeing Flo take the top spot is a welcome sign that representation in women's health is improving.
NHS gives Microsoft Copilot to 505,000 staff
NHS England is rolling out Microsoft 365 Copilot to 505,000 clinicians and support staff, one of the largest public sector AI deployments anywhere. A trial across 90 organisations found it saved an average of 43 minutes a day on admin. (NHS England)
Why it matters. The NHS is famously slow to adopt technology (most trusts still used fax machines until 2020) so adoption at this kind of scale is a real sign of intent. Founders selling to the NHS will be excited although mass adoption of clinical software is likely still some way off.
Thena Capital raises £45m healthcare fund
London-based Thena Capital, run by an all-female partnership, closed £45m for its debut fund. They plan to help UK medtech startups focusing on women's health, oncology and mental health break into the US by deploying capital, network and hands-on support. (Sifted)
Why it matters. Breaking into the US for any startup is as much about commercialisation experience and network as it is about capital. A fund offering all of those pillars in one place will accelerate its portfolio companies far beyond the cheque.
Strava connects your training data to Claude
Strava launched an MCP that lets subscribers use Claude to query their own training history in plain language. The connection covers activity history, fitness trends, heart rate and GPS data, meaning users no longer need to spend time in the app to get a better view of their training. (Strava)
Why it matters. Strava is one of the first big fitness platforms to encourage users to interact with their data outside of the app. Training Peaks has done the opposite. This is the first sign that things are moving away from the in-app experience being the thing that keeps users coming back.
Peloton buys connected Pilates startup Skop
Peloton acquired Skop, the maker of a smart Pilates reformer that tracks form and resistance in real time. No announcements have been made about hardware but after a 48% jump in engagement with its existing mat Pilates content, it isn't hard to imagine Peloton diversifying its hardware away from bikes and treadmills. (Fitt Insider)
Why it matters. Peloton has struggled for hardware revenue over the last few years, despite a huge increase in people spending more time on health and fitness. Pilates is having a real moment and tapping into that audience with an at-home experience could be a smart move.
Eternal turns your health data into a podcast
Eternal is a healthcare platform founded by ex-Strava VP and The Athletic co-founder Alex Mather. This week they launched an AI companion that packages up your health data and delivers it in the form of a personalised weekly podcast. (Fitt Insider)
Why it matters. We are living through a time of huge over optimisation. Data is readily available in dashboards, PDFs and apps, but most of us ignore it and never act. People don't want numbers, they want a story, and Eternal is delivering exactly that.
Investment Updates
Semble, £30m Series C (HTWorld) - The London care coordination platform for outpatient providers raised a £30m Series C led by Revaia to expand across the UK and France.
Flok Health, £9.5m Series A (HTWorld) - The Cambridge maker of an AI-operated physiotherapy clinic now used across the NHS raised a £9.5m Series A led by Albion VC.
Impli, £1.4m NIHR grant (Future Femhealth) - The London startup building a continuous hormone monitor for IVF secured a £1.4m NIHR grant to fund its first in-human clinical study.
TympaHealth, £2m Innovate UK loan (Health Tech Digital) - The London ear and hearing health company secured a £2m Innovate UK loan to scale its AI otoscopy platform for pharmacists and community care.
Signos, $20m (HTWorld) - The US glucose monitoring platform for weight management raised $20m from GV, Dexcom and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama.
The Health Stack Podcast
Episode #07 - Trailer
Will Read
A first look at the next episode with Will Read. We get into what he is building, the lessons that shaped it, and where he thinks the space is heading. Full episode lands next week.
Roles Worth Knowing About
Engineering Director - Flok Health
Cambridge, UK / Full-time
Flok runs an AI-operated physiotherapy clinic already live across multiple NHS regions. The role takes over running and scaling the engineering team from the CTO, with a lot of hiring ahead as the team grows past 30.
Senior Software Engineer - Foundation Health
Manchester, UK / Hybrid
Foundation Health is building an AI-powered digital pharmacy platform that connects fragmented care infrastructure. You would own large sections of the platform end to end in a small, remote-first team that meets monthly in Manchester.
Principal Engineer, Architecture & Platform - Care ADHD
Canary Wharf, London / Hybrid
Care ADHD is a private ADHD assessment and treatment provider aiming to be the largest outside the NHS within five years. This is a hands-on role owning the platform architecture.
Head of Data - Perci Health
UK / Remote
Perci Health is a single destination for people living with and beyond cancer to reach nurses, dietitians, physiotherapists and other specialists. The role leads the data function as the platform scales its clinical support model.
Backend Developer (Kotlin/Java) - DeepHealth
UK / Remote
DeepHealth, through its CIMAR UK team, builds cloud-based medical image management used across radiology. This is a backend focused role using Kotlin.
That's it for Issue #13.
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