Digital health firm Kaido secures £50K investment to further growth

Innovation Birmingham Campus-based firm Kaido has been backed by the SME Innovation Fund to help launch its connected health platform.

The SME Innovation Fund is a joint initiative set up by Mercia Fund Management, the start-up arm of specialist funder Mercia Technologies, and the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (WMAHSN), which aims to support healthcare start-ups across the West Midlands.

The WMAHSN brings together investment, energy and expertise from across the health science community. In collaboration with Mercia, it provides repayable grants of up to £50,000 for up to ten new innovations each year to support innovations that have the potential to deliver a high growth for a business and its investors.

Kaido aims to help people get more from their health applications, wearable devices and smartphones in line with their health goals.

The firm is one of 24 start-ups currently on Innovation Birmingham’s Serendip Smart City Incubator. It was awarded the funding following a competitive application and interview process.

Richard Westman, founder of Kaido, said: “The SME Innovation Fund has come at a really important time for Kaido as we look to grow the team and accelerate development. It was critical that our world-leading sports science expertise was matched by the same level of technology infrastructure to deliver on our vision.”

Dr Christopher Parker, managing director at WMAHSN, said it was already supporting Kaido with its presence in the Digital Health Quarter of the Serendip Smart City Incubator.

“The (SME) fund is a further sign of our commitment to SMEs in the West Midlands’ life sciences sector, helping to create wealth in the local economy through industry collaboration and attracting inward investment, as well as delivering improvements in healthcare by aiding the spread of innovative diagnostics, devices and services at scale and pace,” he said.

Peter Dines, Head of Life Sciences at Mercia Technologies, concluded: “We are impressed by the Kaido team and its collective vision to exploit what is a very interesting innovation in a fast moving sector set to continue to grow. We look forward to providing support to the Kaido team as they continue on their journey.”