Bertelsmann Investments acquires stake in Ada Health
Bertelsmann Investments (BI) is acquiring a stake in Ada Health, a leading European start-up in the digital health sector, thus strengthening its commitment to the promising business field of digital health.
In 2016, an entrepreneur, a neuroscientist and a doctor founded the start-up Ada Health in Berlin-Kreuzberg with the aim of harnessing artificial intelligence for the early diagnosis of diseases by patients themselves. As a pioneer in the field of digital health, Ada Health developed a medical platform and an app, which is now available in seven languages, that helps people quickly and easily make an initial medical diagnosis based on their symptoms - and has already done so millions of times. Together with other investors, Bertelsmann Investments (BI) is now taking a stake in the successful company. In an extension of the financing round B, which had already brought Ada Health 90 million US dollars in May 2021, BI and the investors Farallon Capital, Red River West are together providing a further 30 million US dollars for the expansion of the business. Ada Health is thus one of the first investments by Bertelsmann Investments in the digital health sector.
According to the company, the fresh capital will enable Ada Health to further accelerate the company's growth and, in particular, strengthen its presence in the US. It said this follows a period of strong growth in North America, where Ada has entered into collaborations with leading health systems and care providers, while internationally it will continue existing customer partnerships with companies such as Bayer, Novartis and Sutter Health. Since the Ada app's launch, more than 26 million diagnoses have been performed through it and 300,000 five-star ratings have been given to the app worldwide, according to the company. Ada Health also provides enterprise solutions to a variety of health system, insurance and life sciences partners. By integrating its symptom assessment tools, Ada can improve outcomes for patients, consumers and healthcare providers.
"Our goal as a company is to improve healthcare for more than one billion people around the world," said Daniel Nathrath, CEO and co-founder of Ada Health. "Covid-19 has highlighted the need for greater and faster change in healthcare, and we see growing demand from health systems, insurers and life sciences organizations for innovative ways to transform healthcare and deliver better outcomes for patients, hospitalists and providers." He said the new investment will enable Ada to double its growth in the U.S. and other key regions." Jörn Caumanns, CFO of Bertelsmann Investments, said, "We are very excited to partner with Ada as one of the leading European players in digital health. We are impressed by the world-class quality of the health assessment platform as well as the company's future growth options. Digital health is an area we are looking to expand, and Ada is one of BI's first investments in this space."
About Bertelsmann Investments
Bertelsmann Investments (BI) is the global venture capital arm of Bertelsmann, a media, services and education company operating in approximately 50 countries around the world. Bertelsmann includes the entertainment group RTL Group, the trade book publisher Penguin Random House, the music company BMG, the service provider Arvato, the Bertelsmann Printing Group, the Bertelsmann Education Group and Bertelsmann Investments. Bertelsmann Investments' start-up and fund network currently consists of nearly 300 active investments.
