Health tech startup Doccla has raised £15m in a Series A funding round to support its “virtual ward” and patient monitoring technology used by the NHS.
Founded in Sweden and now headquartered in London, Doccla’s technology lets clinical staff monitor patient vital signs remotely with sensors.
Doccla uses data analytics, electronic health records, and artificial intelligence to track patient wellbeing with the goal of alleviating the pressure on medical centres.
Virtual wards is a term to describe remote care that takes place in the home. Virtual hospital specialists have been gaining popularity in the health tech sector to combat the growing issue of overworked doctors and medical professionals.
Other firms offering virtual relief for health services include Suvera and Cera Care Limited.
Doccla, founded in 2019, first launched in the UK during the pandemic at a time when patient intake skyrocketed to unmanageable levels for NHS hospitals.
However, Doccla claims its virtual ward system means patients can be discharged early and continue their treatments from their own beds, rather than taking up one in a hospital.
Its clients include NHS trusts across the UK, such as Northampton General Hospital and Cambridgeshire Community Services.
“Our combining new technology with a service layer and clinical capacity reduces work for the NHS,” said Doccla founder Martin Ratz.
“We look forward to using this new level of support to further build on our success by getting more hospitals on board and developing our technology and clinical capacity in order to help solve the hospital bed crisis and alleviate the immense pressures on the NHS and other healthcare systems.”
The oversubscribed funding round was led by General Catalyst and featured participation from funds managed by KHP Ventures, a collaboration between King’s College London, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
As part of the investment, Chris Bischoff, managing director at General Catalyst, will join the Doccla board.
It plans to use the funds to expand into new markets across Europe.
In September 2021, Doccla raised £2.4m in a seed funding round led by Giant Ventures, and early-stage technology VC Speedinvest.
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