UK’s Babylon raises $25M for its remote healthcare service

Babylon

UK-based Babylon has raised $25 million in a round led by Investment AB Kinnevik with participation from Hoxton Ventures, Innocent Drinks cofounders Richard Reed, Adam Balon, and Jon Wright, as well as Deepmind cofounders Demis Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman.

The company offers a mobile app, available on iOS and Android devices, that allows users to book a video consultation with a doctor or a therapist, track their health, and store basic health information like family health history, medication history, and allergy information. Users can also send photos and text messages to doctors, and order tests via the app.

For unlimited access to Babylon-employed doctors, the company charges around $7 (4.99 pounds) per month in the UK and $8.60 (7.99 Euros) per month in Ireland. Sessions with therapists or specialists are at the moment available only in the UK, and are offered for $70.50 (49 pounds) per session.

“So much of healthcare solutions currently are trying to make the existing system more efficient,” Babylon CEO and founder, Ali Parsa told MobiHealthNews. “But what you really need to do is say, ‘What is the alternative?’ If I have a clean sheet of paper, how do I deliver personal health services at prices that everyone can afford?'”

In February 2015, the company had 5,000 users; today, it covers about 250,000 lives with 150,000 active users. Consumers can get the service directly, as well as through employers; some of the employers and payers that are using Babylon include Citigroup, Sky, MasterCard, Mercer, Bupa, and Aviva.

The funds will be used to further develop an artificial intelligence system that helps users navigate their symptoms and monitor medication adherence. Also, Babylon plans to expand to Rwanda in effort to learn new things, like whether this on-demand healthcare model could be used in some of the poorest countries in the world…