These start-ups are at their Seed and Series A stage funding stages and are making important strides forward in preventative healthcare, genomics, in-home care and remote monitoring. Umps supports independence and wellbeing at home with proactive insights from in-home sensors, Eugene offers at-home medical-grade genetic testing and genetic counselling, while Vively Health has developed a wellness platform that helps people understand how lifestyle choices affect glucose levels in real-time.
Bupa Asia Pacific Chief Customer and Transformation Officer, Danielle Handley, said these strategic investments in early-stage start-ups are important in advancing healthcare and enabling better health outcomes for both Bupa customers and the broader community.
"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.
"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 also recently conducted a pilot program with Vively Health which sees their Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) and app-based program subsidised for a target group of eligible Bupa Health Insurance members.
Bupa members participating in the pilot will receive a CGM device and app that monitors their glucose levels continuously. This data will be analysed to provide tailored health insights and lifestyle recommendations, supported by Vively's team of dietitians and health coaches.
Vively Health CEO, Tim Veron, said partnering with Bupa allows them to grow their footprint and deepen its commitment to transforming healthcare from reactive to proactive.
"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," Tim said.
Bupa's investment in its Ventures Fund builds on the success of its eco-Disruptive program which offered APAC start-ups funding to help develop solutions that created healthier and more sustainable societies as part of a global Bupa innovation competition.
"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.
Customer-facing programs with Umps and Eugene are also now being developed.
