Nordic AI-powered digital therapeutics app platform Sidekick Health has completed a $20 million Series A financing round.
The funding round was led by Wellington Partners and Asabys Partners, through its fund SAHII, with participation from existing investors Novator and Frumtak Ventures.
Founded in 2014, the startup has developed a gamified digital care mobile app platform. The platform targets chronic and lifestyle disease management via digital nudges from a helmet-wearing cartoon helper – pushing patients toward relevant information to support more beneficial lifestyle choices (e.g., taking regular exercise or cutting down on smoking), according to the company. The platform also helps with patient treatment management, such as via digital reminders for taking medication and remote patient monitoring for clinicians.
The Sidekick Health platform is used across multiple therapeutic areas, ranging from diabetes to ulcerative colitis and smoking cessation. For patients, it provides disease-specific health education videos, recipes, and tips based on clinical guidelines, to improve patient awareness, empowerment, and coping skills. It also provides personalized, data-driven action plans, recommendations, motivation messaging (supported remotely by a community manager), and medication reminders to support treatment adherence.
According to the company, gamified experience promotes behavior modification to reduce stress, improve physical activity, sleep, and diet, and overcome barriers to change. Further, the company says it uses AI and advanced analytics to personalize recommendations and gain data insights.
“The healthcare landscape has shifted significantly this year as a direct result of COVID-19, accelerating the adoption and demand for digital health solutions. We have grown our customer base sharply in recent months, adding new partnerships with global pharmaceutical firms and leading US-based healthcare organizations,” said Sidekick CEO and co-founder Dr. Tryggvi Thorgeirsson.
The company plans to use the new funds for development and validation into new therapeutic areas, drive product development, and further expand into pharmacotherapies.
“At Wellington, we are all about improving healthcare for all stakeholders, patients, practitioners, and payors alike. Sidekick’s team has done a remarkable job of creating a product platform with the potential to achieve this aim on a global scale. We are very excited to support the company with their plans for significant growth,” said Dr. Regina Hodits, managing partner at Wellington.
Digital Health Mobile Apps have raised almost $1 billion in the first nine months of 2020, according to the latest Mercom Funding report.
