Health Stack Brief — Issue #2
People want more from their gym. Clue x Virgin Active, SPORTL launches, Hertility x NVIDIA and a $70m raise for a robot that draws blood.
This week's big theme
At PerformX one of the key themes was that people are expecting more from their memberships than ever before, as they look for a more integrated approach to health and wellbeing.
Cheapest is no longer best and people are happy to pay more for the best overall offering, one that includes recovery, wellness and community. A shake bar is no longer enough to retain members and soon enough blood panels, recovery and longevity medicine will form a core part of any premium health offering.
Operators are already responding. Third Space is leading the way in London but others are taking note. Fitness First recently partnered with Healf to bring its '360' concept to its members and this week Virgin Active partnered with Clue to offer cycle awareness as part of its offering.
All that's currently missing is the data layer that ties everything together. The race is on.
This week in the news
Clue x Virgin Active
Clue continues to drive customer acquisition through partners. Having previously partnered with wearables like Oura, they've now teamed up with Virgin Active to bring cycle tracking to one of the largest gym customer bases in the UK. (linkedin)
Why it matters: Gym-goers are demanding more from their memberships and partnerships are the fastest way to deliver additional value without building it yourself. Expect this to be a big theme for 2026 as the drive towards more integrated health services accelerates.
SPORTL launches with £250k pre-seed
SPORTL has launched its flexible fitness platform, helping London's boutique gyms monetise spare capacity via a pay-as-you-train app. (healthstack.tech)
Why it matters: Consumers want less friction when booking fitness. With ClassPass facing increasing backlash from studio owners, the scene looks set for a competitor with a more transparent model. Watch how they handle supply-side retention. That's what kills most marketplace models early.
Hertility x NVIDIA
Hertility has joined NVIDIA's Inception programme to accelerate its AI-powered women's health platform, using NVIDIA's compute and tooling to build out its reproductive-health models. (healthcare-digital.com)
Why it matters: The infrastructure bet matters as much as the product. Access to NVIDIA's ecosystem compresses the timeline for building serious AI capability in a sector that's been chronically underserved.
Investment updates
Waiv, $33m to scale AI precision testing — Owkin spin-out Waiv raised $33m to turn routine digital pathology slides into AI-powered precision oncology tests that plug into existing lab workflows. (businesswire)
Alan, €100m at a €5bn valuation — French health-insurance unicorn Alan has raised €100m, pushing its valuation to €5bn as it continues to turn health insurance into a fully digital experience across France, Belgium, Spain and beyond. (sifted.eu)
Delphyr, €1.75m for an AI clinician co-pilot — Amsterdam startup Delphyr raised €1.75m to build an AI platform that sits on top of existing systems to summarise records, draft notes and automate correspondence for clinicians. (htworld.co.uk)
Vitestro, $70m Series B for autonomous blood collection — Dutch medtech Vitestro raised an oversubscribed $70m Series B to scale Aletta, a robot that draws blood as accurately as a trained human, in less than half the time. (prnewswire)
Roles worth knowing about
Founding Lead Product Designer (App) — Healf — Owns the full app experience for turning blood biomarker data into daily behaviour. Founding designer role at a company with live infrastructure, real data and a growing user base. London · Hybrid. (Apply here)
Principal Product Manager, AI/LLM — Neko Health — Leads how Neko's AI stack turns data from its 10-minute full-body scan into preventative-health products. Product leadership at one of Europe's most technically ambitious health companies. Stockholm · Hybrid. (Apply here)
Director of Growth — Do Health — Do Health is a preventative health app built inside Voy and co-founded by Dr Rangan Chatterjee, combining blood tests, health data and AI personalisation to help people make better lifestyle decisions. This role owns the full growth funnel from scratch. London · Hybrid. (Apply here)
Health Stack Podcast
Episode one is live. Matt and Ryan, co-founders of SPORTL, talk about building a pay-as-you-train platform to help London's boutique gyms fill empty spots — and what it really takes to take on ClassPass.
Listen on Spotify | Watch on YouTube
That's it for Issue #2.
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