BioBeats sways to $3m rhythm

BioBeats, a UK-based digital wellness technology company co-founded by University of Surrey faculty, closed a £2.4m ($3m) round led by university venture fund Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI) on Tuesday.

The round also included investment firm White Cloud Capital and VC firm IQ Capital.

Founded in 2012, BioBeats is developing digital products that apply artificial intelligence to data collected from wearable devices to help monitor and improve human wellbeing.

Its flagship product is a mobile app-accessible course on controlling occupational stress called BioBase, piloted in 2015 in partnership with insurance firm Axa and banking group BNP Paribas.

The capital will support BioBeats’ efforts to secure custom for BioBase globally.

BioBeats was founded by chief science officer David Plans, a lecturer in entrepreneurship and innovation at Surrey whose focus includes using media algorithms in healthcare, and chief technology officer Davide Morelli, research fellow at Surrey.

The pair were helped by entrepreneur Nadeem Kassam, who remains a director at the company.

Plans and Morelli have agreed to begin doctoral work at Oxford in biomedical engineering and experimental psychology following the OSI investment to expose BioBeats’ technology to greater levels of peer review and validation.

Samsung Next, a corporate venturing arm of consumer electronics supplier Samsung, backed BioBeats’ White Cloud-led $2.3m round in 2016 with participation from Axa Venture Partners, Axa’s corporate venturing unit, and IQ Capital.

The business had been backed by Italian Angels for Growth in October 2014, though further details could not be ascertained, after disclosing $300,000 from unnamed investors that July, according to a regulatory filing.

BioBeats secured $650,000 in a 2013 seed round backed by record label Cantora Records, Eniac Ventures, Zhen Fund and assorted private investors. Investment firm Zynik Capital also lists BioBeats in its portfolio, though it is not clear when it invested.