Huma raises £91 million to scale internationally

Huma, a digital platform that supports a ‘hospital at home’ model, has raised $130 million (£91m) from investors.

The company said the investment will be used to scale the platform, and to support pharmaceutical and research industries to run decentralised clinical trials.

In 2020, the company was supported by NHSX to roll-out a solution to support COVID-19 patients at home, with remote monitoring tools. The ‘virtual wards’ were used to monitor patient with moderate symptoms, including to support COVID-19 patients who were discharged from hospital and also to avoid admissions when care can be safely managed in their own homes.

As part of the funding, a further commitment of $70 million can be exercised at a later date, taking the total financing raised to more than $200 million. Goldman Sachs International acted as lead placement agent to Huma.

The company now plans to use the investment to expand in the US, Asia and the Middle East, as well across the NHS.

In the life science sector, the company works with AstraZeneca, Bayer and Janssen and academic institutions such as Stanford Medicine, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of Cambridge.

Dan Vahdat, Founder and CEO of Huma, commented: “This is a pivotal moment in Huma’s development. We have exceptional partners and strategic investors who will support us in our mission to help people worldwide live longer and fuller lives. We’re already demonstrating how ‘hospital at home’ can transform healthcare, and how decentralized clinical trials can advance research in ways that weren’t imaginable even one year ago. Now we want to accelerate the pace of change and continue to innovate for better care and research worldwide.’’

Dr Claudia Suessmuth Dyckerhoff, Huma Board Director, added: “The pandemic has exposed weaknesses across health systems around the world but through collaboration, innovation, and compassionate leadership Huma can support faster and safer care for patients through digital technologies and rapid access to treatments by accelerating clinical research.”

In 2020, the company worked with Watford General Hospital among other sites, to introduce its remote monitoring tools, read the story here.