Innovative health app promises help for patients with £1.5 million investment
Innovative health app, Holly Health, marks a £1.5 million investment milestone with support from the Women Angels of the North angel syndicate and Leeds-based non-profit NorthInvest. Promising better help for their 20,000-strong customer base.
Holly Health aims to give personalised care that promotes habit forming change for physical and mental health. Guided by clinical psychological evidence, the app acts as a digital health and wellbeing coach for its 4000 active monthly users.
Co-founder and CEO, Grace Gimson of Holly Health, said: “We’re incredibly pleased to announce this milestone in our company’s journey. Thanks to these two angel investment networks, we will be able to bring our services to over 50,000 more waiting patients and expand our primary care services in the North of the UK.”
Leeds-based non-profit, NorthInvest, provide funding to northern-based tech start-ups with their widescale co-investment community. Since the beginning of 2022 NorthInvest has facilitated 27 deals amounting to £22 million in investment for innovative organisations such as Holly Health.
Grace was inspired to create Holly Health back in 2020 after seeing the negative effects of diet culture on family members. Using her experience working at Deliveroo and Scape Technologies, she decided to launch a health app that was dedicated to high social responsibility. With the help of NorthInvest’s angel investment network, Holly Health has created a tangible line of support that can improve a patient’s long-term baseline health.
Grace added: “With the help of the Women Angels of the North and NorthInvest, as well as our amazing GP partners, mental health practitioners, and commercial officers, Holly Health has worked with the NHS to provide out-of-hospital support to thousands of patients. Allowing them to make long-term changes to their behaviours and improve their health on their own terms.”
On reaching the £1.5 million capital investment milestone, NorthInvest Board Director, Helen Oldham said: “We want the North of England to be the natural home of new innovative tech start-ups, and Holly Health is leading the way in HealthTech. We’re proud to have supported Holly Health in its investment journey and excited to see the incredible support it’s giving to its users.
“NorthInvest will continue to bridge the geographical and gender funding gap by supporting the abundant talent in the North.”
Women Angels of the North founder, Jordan Dargue, said “As we build out our women Angel investing capacity here in the north I am delighted to see women who are a part of Women Angels of the North come on board and support this phenomenal founder and business. Grace and Holly Health are doing some really meaningful work in the healthcare space, so to be able to help Grace reach this funding milestone is something we’re really proud of.”
