– Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a significant shift in consumer behaviour and acceptance of remote healthcare coaching
– Liva to expand its European operations and footprint in digital chronic disease prevention and management
COPENHAGEN, 6th January 2021 – Liva Healthcare (“Liva”), a European market leader in scalable digital health coaching, has secured a new funding round with access to EUR 24.5 million, led by Verlinvest, the go-to investor for mission-driven entrepreneurs and category-defining global consumer brands. Also taking part in the round are all Liva’s current main investors, MIG, Digital Health Ventures, Santo Venture Capital. The investment will enable Liva to strengthen its position as a European leader in digital health and lifestyle coaching for chronic disease prevention and management.
Liva is a health tech company headquartered in Copenhagen and London with the mission to improve the lives of people at risk of, or living with, chronic conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, obesity, and heart diseases by driving positive behavioural change. Liva was founded in 2015 by the team behind independent health information portal NetDoctor.com, a frontrunner in digital healthcare since 1998. Liva’s combination of scalable health coaching focused on personal human relationships, with an intuitive and user-friendly interface, makes it a leading lifestyle coaching app and programme in Europe.
The on-going Covid-19 pandemic has led to a significant shift in acceptance of remote healthcare by European consumers. Remote healthcare is now seen as efficient, effective, and safe. This shift in acceptance and the subsequent patient behaviour has given Liva a significant increase in interest from public healthcare providers and life science companies in 2020. The new funding round will enable Liva to take full advantage of this momentum and enlarge its European footprint and operations.
Liva is used by clients such as Novo Nordisk, AXA Health, Amgen, City of Copenhagen, Bupa Australia and several other key players in public healthcare, insurance and life science industries globally. Liva is also a partner to NHS England on its world-leading National Diabetes Prevention Programme. Liva is currently operational in Britain, Australia, Ireland, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland with operations currently being setup in Germany and Switzerland.
The current fundraising agreement is split in two tranches. The injection enables Liva to innovate and grow ahead of future fundraising rounds.
André Sode, CEO of Liva Healthcare, says:
“This new funding, from one of Europe’s strongest purpose-led, consumer growth investors, will substantially accelerate our expansion in core European markets,” says André Sode. “COVID-19 has demonstrated how effective remote digital health solutions can be. With healthcare providers around the world looking for scalable solutions to combat the rise in diabetes and obesity, we are ideally placed to support and have experienced a significant increase in interest as a result.”
Simone Sallustio, Executive Director at Verlinvest, says:
“This investment represents a major new entry into digital health for Verlinvest, where technology is fuelling consumer revolutions,” says Simone Sallustio. “Digital healthcare has been vital in getting treatment to patients during the pandemic and this trend will continue as effective virtual programmes give people more flexible healthcare options. Liva’s advanced technology and proven clinical outcomes set it apart from its competitors. In this exciting and rapidly evolving space, Liva’s experience and established partnerships represent a strategic choice for Verlinvest.”
Rune Bech, co-founder and Chairman of Liva Healthcare, says:
“This is a major leap for us. Verlinvest will help us to accelerate our ambitious growth plans,” says Rune Bech. “The existing investment partners are also contributing to this funding round and look forward to welcoming Verlinvest onboard. Verlinvest has an impressive track record of enabling successful consumer brands to grow rapidly across geographies and channels. VerlInvest has, time and again, shown its excellent instinct for partnering with visionary, mission-driven entrepreneurs who drive consumer revolutions – as in the case of Oatly, leader in the global plant-based food movement.”
About Liva Healthcare
Liva Healthcare is Europe’s leading provider of scalable digital health coaching. Through an app Liva is providing personal human coaching programmes to help people manage obesity, pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Liva is headquartered in Copenhagen and London, and the company’s multi-award winning platform is now operational in seven countries across Europe and the South-Pacific. The company was founded in 2015 by the founders behind Europe’s leading independent health information portal, NetDoctor.com, Rune Bech and Carl Brandt, together with Kristoffer From. In 2017, Liva was selected by NHS England among 84 providers as a digital provider to their world-leading National Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP).
Among Liva’s other major clients are insurance giants like AXA Health and Bupa, life science companies like Novo Nordisk and Amgen, and public and private healthcare providers across Europe. Through Liva’s app, users have access to a real human health coach, designing a personalised lifestyle change programme for them based on their individual needs. After a live video kick-off the participant then receives continuous professional guidance, support, motivation, and empathy via Liva’s app. The goal is to help them prevent, manage or reverse chronic conditions through new sustainable healthy lifestyle and behaviour changes. Participants can track their progress real-time via the app and engage with a support group of peers to keep them motivated. In several studies, Liva has been proven to drive substantial clinical outcomes, also in socio-economic backgrounds normally hard to reach.
Liva is funded by VerlInvest, MIG, Digital Health Ventures, Santo Venture Capital, and Maj Invest.
About Verlinvest
Verlinvest is a privately-owned family investment company based in Brussels with offices in New York, London, and Singapore. Verlinvest’s long-term, operational mindset is uniquely focused on building and accelerating brands and helping entrepreneurs convert their vision into global success stories. Since its formation in 1995, Verlinvest has partnered with leading, mission-oriented consumer brands and their entrepreneurial management teams across the United States, Europe, and Asia to drive growth across new products, channels, and markets. The firm’s portfolio of active and former consumer brands includes Oatly, Tony’s Chocolonely, Vita Coco, Vitamin Water, and its healthcare investments include Armonea and Bludental. For more information: verlinvest.com
About MIG AG
MIG Verwaltungs AG (MIG AG) is one of the leading German VC investors. MIG AG, through its MIG Fonds, invests in early-stage deep tech and life science technologies in German-speaking Europe and beyond. The company has so far invested over € 580 m in more than 40 companies. Its portfolio companies are developing innovations in the fields of biopharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence/machine learning, quantum tech, Digitization/IOT, precision medicine and digital health. Currently, the MIG investment portfolio includes 28 companies.
The MIG investment team is a committed group of engineers, biologists, scientists and investors who understand the importance of an analytical and creative approach to the opportunities and challenges faced when trying to build a successful business. Their reputation and track record provides an excellent access to the people, firms and institutions that matter for its portfolio companies’ growth.
Further information at www.mig.ag,www.mig-fonds.de
About Santo Venture Capital
Santo Venture Capital is the venture capital arm of the Strüngmann family office. The Family office has a wide-ranging network in the pharma industry. Santo is invested in leading European biotech companies, in addition to several companies in various other industries.
About Digital Health Ventures
Digital Health Ventures (DHV) is a venture capital fund focused on early-stage investments in digital health start-ups. It was founded in 2015 by Ulli Jendrik Koop and Guido Hegener, showing a track record including several European healthcare innovators. DHV’s mission is to build a sustainable digital health ecosystem with a focus on start-ups which will play a significant role in healthcare.
About Maj Invest
Maj Invest is one of Denmark’s leading asset management companies, managing assets for primarily institutional clients. The Maj Invest group was established in 2005 and is today owned by management and employees.
