NALURI Hidup Sdn Bhd, a digital health services provider, has secured US$5 million (RM20.6 million) in new funding.
Naluri Hidup co-founder and CEO Azran Osman-Rani said the Series A round was oversubscribed with the support of its investors led by Singapore’s Integra Partners.
Duopharma Biotech Bhd, Pathology Asia Holdings Pte Ltd (via Biomark) and venture capital firm M Venture Partners have returned from a previous round of funding.
Naluri Hidup welcomes new strategic investors Sumitomo Corp Equity Asia Ltd, Palm Drive Capital LLC from New York and INP Capital Inc from Vancouver to its shareholder register.
The company also gained support from the Hibiscus Fund, a venture capital fund managed by RHL Ventures Sdn Bhd and South Korea’s KB Investment Co Ltd, that forms part of the Dana Penjana Nasional programme.
Naluri Hidup is the first company to benefit from the new scheme, intended to enable high-growth firms to innovate and scale quickly.
“With mental health at the fore in light of the pandemic, we are delighted that companies are now taking bolder steps to tackle physical and mental health holistically, and these investments are an affirmation of Naluri Hidup’s business model and growth prospects in this field,” Azran said in a statement yesterday.
He said the funding round would empower Naluri Hidup to expand operations in Singapore and Indonesia, and launch its service in Thailand and the Philippines.
The fresh capital also enables the company to deepen its technology and data science capabilities for product and predictive algorithms enhancement.
The funding is also expected to fuel the company’s investment in clinical research to strengthen the evidence base in diabetes, renal, cardiovascular, cancer and mental health therapeutic areas, including a clinical research launch in Europe.
Integra Partners principal Jennifer Ho said Naluri Hidup is taking a differentiated and practical approach to healthcare to deal with the root of issues in healthcare provision in the region, with the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases driving unsustainably high medical inflation and the rise of mental health issues exacerbated by the pressures of Covid-19.
“It has been a joy getting to know the company and we are very excited to be part of Naluri Hidup’s journey in the years to come,” she said in the statement. Duopharma Biotech, a leading pharmaceutical company in Malaysia, agreed to invest US$500,000 in this round.
It followed an initial investment of US$250,000 previously via a simple agreement for future equity made in April 2020 for a personalised digital holistic healthcare application.
“The smart application of digital technologies to enhance the effectiveness of healthcare and achieve the objective of a healthier life for all is one of Duopharma Biotech’s strategic pillars.
“We are proud to be part of this latest milestone to empower homegrown health technologies. Indeed, the global coronavirus pandemic has compounded the vital need for concerted cooperative initiatives to promote better health for all,” Duopharma Biotech group MD Leonard Ariff Abdul Shatar said in a separate statement yesterday.
Moving ahead, Duopharma Biotech said it aims to accelerate the use of data science, predictive algorithms, device connectivity and disease monitoring to deliver multiple clinically significant health outcomes to help patients get healthier.
Naluri Hidup offers human-led and artificial intelligence-augmented digital health coaching that transforms the lives of people who are at risk of, or managing, chronic and mental health conditions.
The company provides structured multi-disciplinary support to those affected by diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, anxiety and depression, and chronic conditions such as renal disease and cancer.
Its app-based tools deliver health outcomes for users while working with corporates in the region such as Reckitt, AXA Affin Life Insurance Bhd, Maxis Bhd and SP Setia Bhd to contain rising healthcare expenditure and improve employee productivity and engagement.
(Web source: https://themalaysianreserve.com/2021/06/10/naluri-hidup-raises-rm21m-in-series-a/)