Cera raises £260m for major home healthcare expansion

The Southwark-based company will use the funds to reach up to 100,000 patients each day. It’s the latest sign of the scale of the UK’s adoption of a technique that Cera says will help free up the equivalent number of beds in 50 NHS hospitals.

Covid-19 has greatly accelerated the change, but Cera is betting on the possibility of further development. He currently cares for 15,000 people in the UK and Germany, 600 of whom live in London, and now expects the number of people on his tours of the capital to “increase dramatically”. It has performed more than 25 million care appointments in total since its creation in 2016.

Cera’s caregivers and nurses collect data on patients’ symptoms during home appointments and its artificial intelligence algorithms can trigger earlier health interventions, reducing hospitalizations by more than 50% according to figures from the company. It says the expansion plans will help “digital-first” healthcare become as mainstream as banking and app-driven online shopping.

“We are now in pole position to be able to use our unique technology to expand what we do for patients around the world in need of care, while relieving pressure on public services,” said Dr Ben Maruthappu. MBE, CEO of Cera. and co-founder.

KairosHQ was the lead investor in the capital raise and it was joined by Jane Street Capital, the Vanderbilt University Endowment and Schroders Capital. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan were placement agents.