This week's big theme
This week the Hyrox circus rolled into London.
And along with it the sea of participants with their bright outfits and built-for-athletes backpacks. Thankfully this time I was only spectating but one thing that never ceases to amaze me is the sheer scale.
This time around 50,000 people took part which for context is about the same as the London Marathon. Genuinely staggering. The other thing I noticed is that almost everybody was wearing some kind of wearable (plenty had more than one).
This is worth mentioning because this week Oura started interviewing banks for a potential $11bn IPO, only a few months after reportedly deciding to stay private for a while longer. The entire market is moving faster than anyone could have expected.
When they go public, it will not just be a milestone for Oura. It will be the proof of concept for the entire category. For anyone building with hardware, the next 12 months are going to be very interesting.
This week in the news
Oura is exploring an IPO (globalcosmeticsnews.com)
Oura has begun interviewing banks for a potential IPO as early as this year. The company is on track for close to $1bn in revenue, has raised over $2.4bn in total funding and is valued at around $11bn following its Series E last year.
Why it matters: The most credible wearable health brand in the world is heading for a public listing. When Oura files, every investor, operator and health system sitting on the fence about this category will have to make a decision. If you are building here, this is the wave.
NHS pledges £7.4bn in digital investment by 2030 (digitalhealth.net)
An unpublished internal plan seen by Future Health Intelligence reveals DHSC and NHS England intend to invest £7.4bn in technology, digital and data by 2030. The focus has shifted away from EPR acquisition towards workflow automation, productivity tools and AI.
Why it matters: £7.4bn sounds genuinely exciting. Whether it ends up in the right places is, of course, a separate question entirely and one that anyone who has ever tried to sell technology to the NHS will have opinions about. But the shift in focus from EPR acquisition to workflow automation and AI is real, and for anyone building tools that make clinical work faster or lighter, this is worth paying attention to.
Herbalife acquires Bioniq for up to $150m (tech.eu)
Herbalife has agreed to acquire London-based Bioniq, the personalised supplement company that uses blood biomarker data to build individual supplement formulas.
Why it matters: Herbalife had the distribution but not the tech, so they paid up to $150m to unlock it. Two big acquisitions in two weeks. The large players are clearly shopping.
Heim Health selected for NHS Innovation Accelerator with £2.5m raise (linkedin.com)
Heim has been selected for the NHS Innovation Accelerator and raised £2.5m led by THENA Capital. They build software that connects patients with nurses and healthcare practitioners for at-home appointments, from blood tests to post-operative care.
Why it matters: NIA selection is one of the clearest green lights the NHS can give a company. It opens doors that would otherwise take years to knock on.
Investment updates
Health Lean Analytics, €2.1m seed (tech.eu) — Barcelona-based Health Lean Analytics raised €2.1m to automate hospital data collection and optimise surgical workflows, cutting manual burden on clinical staff and improving theatre utilisation.
Blossom Health, $20m Series A (techfundingnews.com) — New York-based Blossom Health raised $20m led by Headline to scale its AI operating system for psychiatry, pairing clinical copilots with psychiatrists to reduce admin and improve access to care. Already treating thousands of patients across multiple US states.
Lume Health, undisclosed round (fitt.co) — Oxford and San Francisco-based Lume Health secured fresh funding to launch a cortisol-tracking wearable that decodes circadian health. The sweat-sensing wristband connects real-time hormonal data with app-based coaching to help users build circadian-balancing habits.
Doctronic, $40m Series B (htworld.co.uk) — New York-based Doctronic raised $40m led by Abstract and Lightspeed, its third round in under a year, bringing total funding to $65m. The first AI to legally renew prescriptions autonomously in the US, grown 15x in six months to eight-figure annualised revenue.
Health Stack Podcast
Episode #02 is live. Ryan Hopkins, Chief Impact Officer at JAAQ, on building a mental health platform that reaches people before they hit crisis point. Employee wellbeing does not go far enough.
Roles worth knowing about
VP of Software - Optos | Dunfermline, Full-time Optos makes the world's leading retinal imaging devices, used in nearly 20,000 locations globally. This role leads the entire software organisation in R&D and reports directly to the CTO. There is not a more significant engineering leadership role in medical imaging hardware right now. Apply here
Principal Software Engineer, ML Platform - Isomorphic Labs | London, Hybrid Isomorphic Labs is applying frontier AI to drug discovery, building on the Nobel-winning AlphaFold system. This role owns the reliability and scalability of the ML infrastructure that makes some of the most ambitious models in biotech possible. Apply here
Director of Product - Unmind | London, Hybrid Unmind is the AI-native workplace mental health platform used by Uber, Disney and Major League Baseball. $82m raised, over two million employees on the platform. Senior product leadership role at a company genuinely moving the needle on mental health at scale. Apply here
Head of People - Paloma Health | London, Hybrid Paloma is cutting NHS autism and ADHD waiting times from 2-10 years down to 4 weeks. A mission with real urgency behind it. Senior people leadership role at a 130-person company hiring 100 more this year. Apply here
Lead Full-stack Engineer - FundamentalXR | London, Hybrid FundamentalXR builds what is essentially a flight simulator for surgery, used by major healthcare institutions and medical device companies globally. This role leads the full-stack and cloud engineering team, reporting directly to the CPTO. Apply here
That's it for Issue #4.
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