Plug and Play Tech Center is a leading innovation platform and early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Silicon Valley with multiple global offices.
Portfolio
7
companies
Research Grid
Research Grid develops artificial intelligence software to automate clinical trial administration.
Holly Health
Holly Health provides personalised digital health coaching to help people manage chronic conditions.
Quench.ai
Quench.ai builds an artificial intelligence learning coach for professional development.
About:Energy
About:Energy builds software platforms for battery data and virtual prototyping.
Scan.com
Scan.com connects patients and referrers with imaging centres through a single digital platform.
Novoic
Novoic develops speech-based artificial intelligence algorithms for early neurological disease detection.
Headstart
Diversity recruiting software that removes bias and matches candidates using data science.
Kieran Borrett
Plug and Play UK Director
The seed round was led by Fuel Ventures to support research and development and international expansion.
"I spent 14 years as a medical researcher, and I would spend hundreds of hours copying data from one system to another. The back-office process is completely broken. When you multiply this across the industry the costs for patients and research institutions are astronomical."
The funding round includes a grant from Innovate UK and strategic backing from Modality Partnership to develop hypertension and mental health services.
"Over 30% of hypertension patients are affected by anxiety or depression, impacting their ability to manage lifestyle behaviours consistently. At Holly Health, we have supported over 30,000 people so far and are committed to innovating to solve our biggest human and healthcare challenges. This funding marks a pivotal moment – with the support of Innovate UK and the strategic investment from Modality Partnership, we are empowered to combat the complex and unresolved challenge of multimorbidity."
The pre-seed round was backed by investors including firstminute capital and Tuesday VC.
"Building my first startup straight out of university and scaling it to a team of over 500, I knew we had to become an effective learning organization. Yet I couldn’t find a simple way to equip our teams with the learning opportunities they needed to continuously grow their skills, learn more, and move faster."
The seed round features backing from HighSage Ventures, Vireo Ventures, and various industry figures to scale the company's London laboratory.
"Our partnership with About:Energy highlights the importance of innovation in the UK and our commitment to partnering with emerging leaders to shape the future of mobility. We look forward to supporting About:Energy to scale throughout the global Plug and Play ecosystem."
The funding round was led by Triple Point Ventures with backing from StartUp Health, Plug and Play Ventures, and YZR Capital.
"We’re incredibly excited to use this latest round of funding to empower even more people to take their healthcare into their own hands, by making diagnostic imaging accessible to everyone, everywhere."
Anthemis Exponential Ventures led the seed round with participation from APEX Ventures and Entrepreneur First.
"The current pandemic vividly shows the need for digital, non-invasive technologies for clinical diagnosis and monitoring. Clinical trials are on hold, with regulators advising on the use of novel remote endpoints to salvage the trials. At the same time, the shift towards telemedicine models is further accelerating the adoption of digital technologies in the health care sectors. Novoic–with its next generation algorithms and strong focus on clinical validation–is best positioned to drive this acceleration."
The investment round was led by FoundersX with participation from Founders Factory, Y Combinator, and Plug and Play Ventures.
"This is a massive achievement for us. When we came to market 2 years ago we were probably the only technology company talking about fairness and diversity. Fairness has been our core purpose from day one, it’s in our DNA, and we are so grateful to our investors and clients who saw how important our message was. For me this represents an investment in diversity, not just our company. This latest round will allow us to grow our capability in our core markets, levelling the playing field and breaking the cycle of exclusion that still chronically prevalent in the world of work. It is also a huge vote of confidence in the team who have worked so hard over the past 2 years to bring our purpose to life."
