HealthTech startup Cera has announced the closure of a £1.3m funding round from investors including David Buttress, the CEO of JustEat.
The London-based startup also drew support from Arnie Sriskandarajah, an angel investor; Tim Jackson, partner at Lean Investments; and Thomas Zeltner, former vice-chair of the World Health Organisation.
Co-founded by Ben Maruthappu and Marek Sacha, Cera seeks to match patients and carers and provide help “within hours”.
Maruthappu said in a statement: “As someone who has sought care for a family member, I believe that the best home for seniors is their own. Our aim is to create a digital doorway to the over 65s, and curate services with partners to help them live more independently. In addition to rolling out partnerships with councils and hospitals, we are actively looking at other avenues including retail, food delivery and wearables, and how we might be able integrate them with our healthcare technology.
“A key challenge in healthcare has been how we can pivot it from reactive, to proactive. With my background as a practising doctor, combined with Marek’s experience in building successful internet companies, we believe we’re in a strong position to take on this worthwhile challenge,” added the entrepreneur.
Cera is also trialling AI and wants to leverage the technology to reduce the number of emergency hospital admissions by being able to predict patient’s health issues before they arise.
Sacha added: “The current care system is broken. The market is served by archaic intermediary agencies, with inefficient operations, underpaid staff and poor quality care. Cera is here to challenge this.
“Through technology and more streamlined logistics, we can transform the service patients receive, use artificial intelligence to advise them on their conditions, while valuing carers and the great work they do,” concluded the co-founder.
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