£3.25m healthcare specialist deal enables Manchester and Leeds expansion plans
Maven Capital Partners has invested £3.25m in London-based RwHealth, formerly Draper & Dash, which will lead to expansion into Manchester and Leeds.
RwHealth is a provider of predictive analytics and insights to the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors.
The transaction includes a £1.5m investment from the Maven VCTs, £1.25m from NPIF-Maven Equity Finance, part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, and a £0.5m commitment from Maven Investor Partner Fullbrook Thorpe.
The funding will enable RwHealth to further strengthen its position in the healthcare sector while growing its footprint in the pharmaceutical market where it has already achieved strong traction in a relatively short space of time.
The business has existing relationship with a blue-chip client base, including NHS trusts, global healthcare providers and multinational pharmaceutical corporations.
The £1.25m investment from NPIF will enable RwHealth to set up a new clinical research team based across Manchester and Leeds and employ new members of its teams in the North.
RwHealth’s innovative platform delivers benefits to healthcare and pharma customers through the provision of predictive analytics and deep insights which can optimise care pathways, identify clinical variations, predict patient flows and enable best in class resource and capacity planning.
Its software solution utilises artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to ingest and unify data from disparate source systems including electronic medical record systems, clinical trial design systems and patient safety records.
This comprehensive linking together of information is providing clinicians with an advanced layer of insight into a patient’s journey through the healthcare system and the challenges that arise through patient flow. This enables management to adjust planning and focus accordingly and contemporaneously better diagnose sufferers of diseases.
The adoption of advanced technologies by pharmaceutical companies and hospitals is driving the demand for AI and ML in healthcare market as they look to increase productivity and reduce the burden on workers.
Its ability to also analyse complex diagnostic and medical data has led to that segment of the market growing at a compound annual growth rate of 43.6% and is expected to reach $61.59bn by 2027, offering significant growth potential for RwHealth in the coming years.
Alexander Sleigh, investment director at Maven, said: “RwHealth is at the forefront of the drive to use real world evidence and predictive analytics more effectively in the healthcare and pharma sectors – ultimately, this will enable better patient outcomes and will be more vital than ever in the post-pandemic era.
“The company has seen significant commercial growth through its blue-chip customer base which includes NHS Trusts and large pharma companies and is now poised to scale up internationally. We are delighted to be able to support the company’s next phase of growth through this investment via a number of our funds and co-investment partners.”
Alex Rothwell, senior investment manager for NPIF-Maven Equity Finance, said: “RwHealth has proven their ability to utilise their unique systems for the benefit of healthcare and pharma clients. We are delighted to be supporting the continued growth of the business with the expansion into the Northern Powerhouse region and backing the senior management team to continue the excellent progress made in recent years.”
Orlando Agrippa, CEO at RwHealth, said: “This funding gives us the capital needed to provide deeper clinical care technologies, while supporting post-pandemic recovery efforts with our AI Data Science Platform alongside our UK and US healthcare partners.”
Sue Barnard, at British Business Bank, said: “The North is a hub of innovation for the life sciences industry, and it’s brilliant that RwHealth will be increasing its presence in this business community.
“We are pleased to welcome new organisations to the North, and look forward to seeing the growth of RwHealth’s Manchester and Leeds teams and the innovation that the business will bring to the region.”
The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.
