SWORD Health secures $4.6 million in seed funding
- SWORD Health is a revolutionary new AI-powered approach to physical rehabilitation which uses lightweight body sensors and cloud technology to provide patients with high-quality physiotherapy at home
- SWORD Health's seed round is funded by Vesalius Biocapital III, Locapes and other undisclosed investors
- SWORD Health is actively working with insurance companies, national health services, health maintenance organisations and providers in the USA, Canada, Australia, Norway and Portugal
PORTO, 16 April 2018: SWORD Health, the creator of the AI-powered digital physiotherapist SWORD Phoenix, announces the close of its $4.6 million seed funding round. The investment, provided by Vesalius Biocapital III, Locapes and other undisclosed investors, will be used to accelerate the development of new digital therapies and drive SWORD Health's global growth.
SWORD Health is a technology platform pioneering a new approach to physical rehabilitation. Using a combination of high-precision motion tracking sensors and the latest advances in AI, SWORD Health's core product, SWORD Phoenix, offers patients interactive physical rehabilitation exercises from the comfort of their own home, supervised by remote physiotherapists.
SWORD Phoenix dramatically lowers the cost of physiotherapy for healthcare providers, while providing clinical teams and healthcare providers with access to in-depth information on patient performance and increased operational efficiency. Because SWORD Phoenix patients are able to recover from the comfort of their own homes, they show higher levels of engagement in their physical therapies. SWORD Health's research shows that 93% of patients demonstrated improvement in the quality of their motor tasks using the platform, and SWORD Health technology is currently being used by healthcare professionals in the USA, Canada, Australia, Norway and Portugal.
Virgílio Bento, founder and CEO of SWORD Health, said: "Demand for physical rehabilitation therapy is rising around the world, yet for many people the therapy they need is out of reach. Our mission is to democratise access to effective physical rehabilitation therapy, and deliver increased operational efficiency to national health services, healthcare providers and insurance companies through our platform."
"We have spent the last three years developing and refining the core AI technology that powers our Phoenix digital physiotherapist, and demonstrating efficacy through extensive clinical trials. We are excited to embark on our next phase of growth, where we will focus on global market expansion, the development of new digital therapies and further clinical trials."
Guy Geldhof, partner at Vesalius Biocapital said: "Physical rehabilitation faces a number of significant challenges. As an industry, it is highly dependant on a small number of specialists, which leads to high costs for patients as well as communication and organisational difficulties for service providers. SWORD Health has real potential to revolutionise physical rehabilitation for the better, and we are delighted to be supporting Virgílio and his highly talented team on their next phase of growth."
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About SWORD Health
SWORD Health is a technology company on a mission to improve access to quality, affordable healthcare. The company's flagship product, SWORD Phoenix, is a sophisticated, comprehensive and user-friendly digital physiotherapist designed to grant patients access to intensive, task-specific rehabilitation protocols from the comfort of their homes. SWORD Health was founded in 2014 and is led by CEO Virgílio Bento. SWORD Health's products are used around the world, including the USA, Canada, Australia, Norway, and is headquartered in Porto, Portugal.
About Vesalius Biocapital III
Vesalius Biocapital III, launched in April 2017, targets later-stage European life science companies in drug development, medtech, diagnostics and eHealth / mHealth. The fund secured over €65 million of commitments in a first closing in May 2017, with a target size of €150 million.
Managing Partners include Guy Geldhof, Marc Lohrmann, Dr Christian Schneider and Stéphane Verdood. Venture Partners are Dr Cees Wortel and Dr David Braga Malta.