Partly based on Keio University research, CureApp has developed mobile apps to help treat nicotine addiction and fatty liver inflammation.
CureApp, a Japan-based medical treatment app developer partly based on Keio University research, has raised ¥1.5bn ($14m) in a round featuring the university’s venture capital division, Keio Innovation Initiative (KII), according to The Bridge.
The round also included diversified conglomerate Itochu and its corporate venturing unit Itochu Technology Ventures, life insurance provider Dai-ichi Life and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, the VC arm of financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
Saison Ventures and Mizuho Capital, respective investment vehicles for financial services firms Credit Saison and Mizuho Bank, also took part, as did with VC firms Cyberdine, Chibagin Capital, Beyond Next Ventures (BNV) and Iwagin Jigyo Souzou Capital.
Founded in 2014, CureApp develops medical treatment apps that enable patients to receive real-time, personalised guidance for conditions not ordinarily tackled by medications or devices.
Patients keep daily activity logs through the app which are then analysed by a cloud-based platform that identifies factors exacerbating their condition.
CureApp currently offers treatments for nicotine addiction and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, a liver inflammation disorder caused by accumulated fat deposits. Co-founders Shin Suzuki and Kohta Satake developed the nicotine addiction app in partnership with the Division of Pulmonary Medicine at Keio University’s School of Medicine.
CureApp will use the cash to enter international markets. The company, which already sells business-to-business smoking cessation services, is also looking to expand with new treatments for lifestyle and mental health-related problems.
KII, BNV and SBI Investment, part of conglomerate SBI, backed a $3.4m round for CureApp in February 2017, after BNV had provided the business with approximately $890,000 in 2015.