Bupa has launched its Ventures Fund with a AU$2.2 million investment in three early-stage healthcare startups: Umps Health, Vively Health, and Eugene Labs.
The funding aims to drive innovation in preventative healthcare, focusing on in-home care, genomics, and real-time wellness monitoring.
The startups, at Seed and Series A stages, are pioneering solutions to enhance health outcomes. Umps Health uses in-home sensors to support independent living, Eugene Labs provides at-home genetic testing and counseling, and Vively Health offers a platform to track how lifestyle impacts glucose levels in real time.
“While this is an initial investment, we see huge potential in these growing start-ups which share our strategic goal of enabling preventative healthcare that is more connected and customer centric,” said Bupa Asia Pacific Chief Customer and Transformation Officer, Danielle Handley. “Despite our scale as an international health and care organisation, we know we cannot develop the future of healthcare on our own. That’s why we are excited to be able to leverage the creativity and agility of the start up community while offering them working access to Bupa teams and resources with the ambition of piloting their offerings into our customer base,” Danielle said.
Bupa has already partnered with Vively Health for a pilot program, subsidizing Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) devices and an app-based platform for eligible Bupa Health Insurance members. The program delivers personalized health insights and lifestyle recommendations, supported by Vively’s dietitians and health coaches.
“We believe that everyone deserves access to tools that can help improve their health outcomes, and this pilot is a major step towards achieving that goal. We are really excited about what we can achieve together as part of this program and beyond,” said Vively Health CEO, Tim Veron.
Building on Innovation
The Ventures Fund follows Bupa’s eco-Disruptive program, which supported APAC startups in creating sustainable healthcare solutions. Bupa is now developing customer-facing programs with Umps Health and Eugene Labs to further integrate their technologies.
“Innovation isn’t just a gimmick or a side-focus for us, we are on a mission to connect care physically and digitally to remove barriers and increase affordability and convenience. It’s only through partnerships and collaboration across business, healthcare industry and government stakeholders that we can make this a reality,” Danielle said.
Bupa’s investment signals a commitment to transforming healthcare through strategic partnerships, with plans to expand collaborations and pilot programs. For more details on Bupa Ventures or to apply for funding, visit Bupa’s website.
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