#SAMSUNG SIDEKICK 2020 SOFTWARE#
#SAMSUNG SIDEKICK 2020 SERIES#

In addition to expanding the range of conditions the platform can address, the Series A funding will go on more clinical research aimed at validating its approach. So it definitely can apply in certain acute conditions as well,” he adds. “We felt all of these were relevant also for this acute condition, so here in our home country, Iceland, we offered help and were picked up by the national authorities to support with a nationwide program to remotely monitor and support patients with COVID-19. “Most of our work is in chronic, lifestyle-related conditions… but when COVID-19 hit we saw that all of this functionality we had built for chronic diseases in our view was quite fitting for COVID-19 as well,” he says, explaining that the platform has been used to support coronavirus patients with educational videos on symptoms and “how to cope with the anxieties of being in home isolation”, as well as offering a reporting conduit to clinical staff to remotely monitor COVID-19 patients.” Thorgeirsson also notes that people who are dealing with chronic conditions often suffer from multiple conditions - so being flexible enough to manage patients with comorbidity has been a strong focus for the clinician-founded startup. Within two years he says he wants it to be able to address over 20 different types of chronic illness (plus “a few acute ones like COVID-19”). New conditions he says it’s set to expand into “over the next few months” include heart failure oncology (supporting patients with different types of cancer) and a number of metabolic conditions. “We’re investing funds into the growth instead of aiming for profitability at this point,” he adds. The new funding is going towards “further growth”, per Thorgeirsson - “both in terms of expanding the product but also accelerating our growth in both Europe and into the US market”. While the platform reaches around 30,000 patients across different therapeutic areas via its b2b customers - with Europe it’s biggest market so far. Sidekick Health doesn’t break out customer numbers but says it’s working with “several” of the top global pharma companies at this stage. So our customer base has been growing quite sharply now in the past six to 12 months.” So the market was very fast growing already but with the pandemic it has really accelerated. “If you look at providers - like hospitals, clinicians - they have of course by necessity had to increase their use of digital health tools due to the pandemic. And maybe especially by payers and providers. That means accelerated adoption by more or less all the stakeholders in the market. “Obviously with the pandemic the whole trend has just been accelerated. “Our market, digital heath in general and our part of it, which you can either call digital care or digital therapeutics, has been fast growing over the past few years,” says CEO and co-founder Dr Tryggvi Thorgeirsson.

#SAMSUNG SIDEKICK 2020 SOFTWARE#

Its software is designed to be accessible via (and integrate with) a range of connected devices. The pandemic is of course more generally driving demand for digital care and remote patient monitoring as healthcare providers look for tools to help manage patients off-site - providing another tailwind for Sidekick Health’s business.Īnd while its gamification approach might seem more immediately suited to younger, app-savvy users, since launching the platform it says it’s worked with patients who are teenagers all the way up to people well over 80 - and now believes there are few limits on who can tap in to its digital care, assuming it can nail designing for easy access. This year it’s also branched out to offer support for patients with COVID-19 - an acute (rather than chronic) condition, albeit one that’s created huge and pressing challenges for healthcare providers. Sidekick Health’s platform addresses multiple therapeutic areas - offering what’s described as ‘evidence-based’, custom gamified digital therapeutics packages for conditions including diabetes, ulcerative colitis and smoking cessation. taking regular exercise, or cutting down on smoking), as well as offering help with patient treatment management, such as via digital reminders for taking medication and remote patient monitoring for clinicians. The 2014-founded startup has built a gamified digital care platform that targets chronic and lifestyle disease management via digital nudges from a helmet-wearing cartoon helper - pushing patients toward relevant information to support more beneficial lifestyle choices (e.g. Existing investors, Novator and Frumtak Ventures, also participated in the oversubscribed round. Nordic digital therapeutics company, Sidekick Health, has closed a $20 million Series A led by pan-European VC Wellington Partners and healthcare focused VC Asabys Partners.

Samsung sidekick 2020