Doccla, a provider to the NHS of virtual ward and patient monitoring technology, has closed a £15 million Series A funding round.
Founded in Sweden in 2019 by health and tech entrepreneurs Martin Ratz and Dag Larsson, Doccla allows clinical staff from hospitals across the UK to monitor the vital signs of those under treatment remotely, either continuously or intermittently.
Launched in the UK during the pandemic, Doccla has experienced extraordinary growth: today it is present in 20% of all Integrated Care Systems (ICS) in the UK, with patient intake from 20+ hospitals. Current clients include a number of NHS trusts across the country, including Northampton General Hospital, Cambridgeshire Community Services, and Hertfordshire Community Trust.
It says its technology enables the early discharge of patients while remaining under the care of clinicians, but also reduces the need for patients with long-term or chronic health conditions to visit hospitals in the first place, thereby minimising NHS costs and workload pressures.
It claims to have achieved a 29% reduction in emergency admissions and a 20% reduction in A&E attendance for its client health trusts. It has received contract extensions from all of its UK clients.
Now headquartered in London, the company will use the funding to integrate its patient monitoring solutions with more medical devices and electronic healthcare record systems, data analytics and AI, as well as expand clinical capacity and availability in order to meet the increasing demand for virtual hospitals that alleviate pressures on healthcare systems.
Doccla also plans to expand into new European markets and segments.
The oversubscribed round was led by international venture capital firm General Catalyst, with participation from funds managed by healthcare investors 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 well as existing investors Giant Ventures, who led the seed round, and Speedinvest.
Chris Bischoff, MD at General Catalyst, will join Doccla’s board.
“Our combining new technology with a service layer and clinical capacity reduces work for the NHS,” said Ratz (above). “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.”
Bischoff added: “The virtualisation of hospital wards is a critical step in efficiently expanding health resources and enabling timely, safe transition of care into the home. Doccla has immense potential and is driving real impact by not only providing a much-needed lifeline for overwhelmed hospitals but also improving patient outcomes through remote monitoring.
“The founders’ vision to drive more digitally-enabled, decentralised healthcare that combines physical and virtual pathways aligns with General Catalyst’s Health Assurance thesis. Importantly, their partnership approach with NHS Trusts echoes our core values of radical collaboration and responsible innovation — innovation that improves society.”