Infant development platform raises $2 million in funding
BabySparks has closed a $2 million in seed funding, the startup announced last week.
With more than 3.5 million downloads in 180 countries, BabySparks develops technology-enabled tools to help parents and caregivers, in multiple languages, support the early development of their young children. Using a proprietary smart adaptive technology, BabySparks’ platform learns each child’s development profile, identifies specific needs, and then provides parents and caregivers with a customized program to support those needs.
“With the support of our seed investors, we’re accelerating the development of our product, adding content for new age ranges, and expanding our team. Parents love what we do, and we are very grateful for the 4.6 rating we’ve received in the app store from over 21,000 of our users. We are committed to helping every child reach his or her full potential,” said Gustavo Rodriguez, Founder and CEO of BabySparks. “85% of our children’s brains are formed by age 3. Parents and caregivers can significantly impact this process by frequently interacting with them in meaningful ways. BabySparks leverages the latest research to help parents and caregivers do exactly that. We love the feedback we get from the parents and caregivers about our platform!”
Highland Marketing secures G Cloud place
Highland Marketing has secured a place on the latest iteration of the G Cloud, to give health and care organisations a faster route to procure support for digital communications.
The health tech agency is now listed as a provider of communications services for NHS organisations that want to launch or promote digital products and services to their own staff and stakeholders, the wider healthcare community, or patients and users.
Chief executive Mark Venables said “The NHS IT agenda has received increasing attention over the past few years and will be given a new boost by the launch of NHSX. The new unit demonstrates the government’s commitment to raising digital standards across health and care and to creating new services for patients.”
“As that happens, it will be essential for national, regional and local organisations to make sure that their staff and stakeholders are fully engaged with new systems and new ways of working, and to make patients, their families and carers aware of what is available.”
“As a dedicated health tech agency, Highland Marketing has the expertise and capacity to help busy NHS communications professionals spread the word about the latest developments. Our listing on G Cloud 11 will give them a faster and easier way to procure our communication, PR and marketing services, so the huge opportunities presented by the effective roll-out of health tech are not missed.”
The government launched G Cloud in 2012, to make it easier for public-sector bodies to buy IT services that use cloud computing. The first iteration of the G Cloud had 700 suppliers. The latest iteration, G Cloud 11, went live on 2 July, with 4,200 suppliers, offering more than 31,000 services.
Selenity acquires Libra, an NHS job evaluation system
Deborah Saunby, Sales & Marketing Director, Selenity “We are excited to welcome Libra to our portfolio. NHS job evaluation complements our existing solutions in HR and finance and brings an amazing new product to our existing NHS customer base.”
Over 200 NHS organisations use Selenity’s solutions, which includes expense management, HR case management, and workforce e-Forms.
James Morris CEO of Container Labs commented “I am delighted with Selenity’s acquisition of our job evaluation software. We’ve worked for years with NHS organisations to develop the easiest way to facilitate the NHS Job Evaluation Scheme. With Selenity’s market knowledge and cloud software expertise, this acquisition represents an amazing opportunity for growth and innovation.”
Inovus Medical secures contract as part of a £5.56 million technology funding by NHS England
Inovus Medical, a designer and manufacturer of medical and surgical simulators, announced this week that development of their Augmented Reality laparoscopic simulator has secured a £1million product development contract through SBRI Healthcare, funded by NHS England.
The technology, which is set to democratise access to highly realistic, affordable laparoscopic simulation, began development in 2018 thanks to an initial £100,000 SBRI phase one contract. Having successfully developed a functional beta product, and following presentation of the technology to the SBRI Healthcare panel earlier this year, Inovus has been awarded phase two funding to allow them to complete development of a commercially ready offering.
The company has used a novel approach to develop what it calls ‘functional Augmented Reality’ by merging real feel soft tissue models with digital anatomy and ensuring seamless interaction between both the digital and real environments. The company has developed a proprietary method for triggering and managing intraoperative complications such as bleeding vessels and bowel perforations. The technology also allows tracking of decision making and tracking surgical performance combined with an online portfolio to show progression in skill over time.
Inovus Medical CEO, Dr Elliot Street, said “There is a growing disconnect between the increasing demands for trainee surgeons to demonstrate surgical proficiencies in the simulated environment, and ready access to realistic simulators to do this. The AR simulators we are developing are the perfect solution to that unmet need. We are extremely grateful to SBRI Healthcare for supporting our vision on this project and are excited to deliver a successful second phase over the coming months.”
