Australian developed mobile health app Cardihab™ to take on global cardiac rehabilitation market following $2M capital raise led by Uniseed
• Evidence-based mobile app Cardihab considered world’s first clinically proven method of mobile cardiac rehabilitation, improves patient outcomes and reduces healthcare costs
• Cardihab successfully closes a $2 million investment, with funds to be applied to growth in Australian sales and overseas launch into $2.1 billion global cardiac rehabilitation market
• Uniseed led capital raise and invested alongside Advance Queensland Business Development Fund, Queensland Cardiovascular Group and Slingshot Ventures
Brisbane, Australia: Cardihab, an Australian-made digital health app proven to save lives by dramatically improving cardiac rehabilitation participation rates, has announced a $2 million investment led by Australia’s longest running research commercialisation fund, Uniseed.
While a number of public hospitals and insurers have already signed up for Cardihab, this latest investment – in which Advance Queensland Business Development Fund, the Queensland Cardiovascular Group and Slingshot Ventures have also participated – will support Cardihab’s launch overseas in a bid to capture a significant proportion of the $2.1 billion cardiac rehabilitation market.
Uniseed Investment Manager and Cardihab Director Natasha Rawlings, said: “Digital health is a rapidly growing investment space, and technology is generally under-utilised in the Australian health system. By providing a clinically proven method of solving a very large and growing problem both in Australia and overseas, Cardihab’s position as first in market will help grow a large and patient- centred business”.
Cardiovascular disease is the cause of death for one in three Australians, according to the Heart Foundation. The condition absorbs 12 percent of the Federal health budget and is projected to grow to a $22 billion problem by 2033¹, making it a national concern.
Patients who complete a rehabilitation program are 40 percent less likely to have a repeat cardiovascular event, according to the Heart Foundation, and 25 percent less likely to die of a cardiovascular event. However, due to the intensive nature of rehabilitation programs, which are clinic-based and usually require twice weekly visits for six weeks, less than 20 percent of patients complete their program.
Cardihab was born out of a joint venture between CSIRO and Queensland Health, where a patient app coupled with a clinician portal was tested in a randomised control trial against the current practice of ‘face-to-face’ cardiac rehabilitation. The trial resulted in a 29 percent increase in enrolment in cardiac rehabilitation, with 70 percent more patients completing the full program.
The results of the independent clinical trial were published in the international journal Heart in 2014, cited as the world’s first clinically proven method of mobile cardiac rehabilitation. Further follow up trials showed consistent outcomes.
Gus Taddeo, Cardihab CEO, said: “Cardihab has hit the market at a time when global investor interest in digital health is at its peak. Under-resourced hospitals and clinics, increasing healthcare costs, eroding margins, ageing populations and more young people suffering with chronic conditions mean that digital health can help more people at a better price point, relieving the burden on all parts of this complex ecosystem.
“We will continue to develop the platform with integrations to medical devices and other easy forms of data collection, meaning more people can be looked after, more easily.”
Queensland’s Deputy Premier and Treasurer Jackie Trad said that supporting emerging companies through the $80 million Business Development Fund (BDF) underpins the Government’s commitment to growing jobs and strengthen the State’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“The BDF has a unique and highly successful funding model which stands out from the crowd,” said Ms Trad. “The Fund has been successful in growing the pool of angel and venture capital funding to support the growth of innovative businesses, which in turn creates high-value jobs and showcases Queensland in Australia and around the world.
“The BDF is a key plank of our $650 million Advance Queensland strategy which supports programs that drive innovation, build on Queensland’s natural advantages, and help to raise our profile as an attractive investment destination.”
¹ The Centre for International Economics, Understanding the value of the value of the Care Assessment Platform / MoTER cardiac rehabilitation program, July 2017, report prepared for the CSIRO.
About Cardihab
Cardihab Pty Ltd is a spinoff company from Australia’s leading publicly funded science organisation, the Commonwealth Science & industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). Cardihab was incorporated in February 2016 as the commercialisation vehicle for mobile health (m-health) research at the Australian E-Health Research Centre (AEHRC) – a joint venture between CSIRO and Queensland Health. Cardihab™ is a digital health company that exists to help patients reach optimal health when at risk of, or living with, heart disease. The scientifically validated Digital Cardiac Rehabilitation (DCR) solution uses smartphone apps and clinician web portals to give clinicians the ability to deliver more convenient, flexible and engaging cardiac rehabilitation services to patients. The solution has been demonstrated to increase cardiac rehabilitation uptake, adherence and completion rates, which means better outcomes for patients, clinicians and lower costs for health service organisations due to lower readmissions. For more information, visit www.cardihab.com
About Uniseed
Uniseed is Australia’s most successful early stage commercialisation fund that makes investments in research emanating from five of Australia’s leading research organisations – The University of Queensland, The University of Sydney, The University of New South Wales, The University of Melbourne and the CSIRO. Uniseed is a mutual fund, owned by research organisations, for research organisations. The fund facilitates the commercialisation of its research partners’ most promising intellectual property and secures targeted investment in resulting products and technologies.
Several of Uniseed’s investee companies have gone on to become successful and profitable, commercial enterprises. For more information, visit www.uniseed.com
Company Contact:
Gus Taddeo – CEO, Cardihab gus.taddeo@cardihab.com
+61 412 710 614
Investor Contact:
Natasha Rawlings – Investment Manager, Uniseed n.rawlings@uniseed.com
+61 431 317 937™
Media Contact:
Ilona Marchetta – IR Department
Ilona.marchetta@IRDepartment.com.au
+61 416 156 136