British Health-Tech Startup Cera Secures $150M To Expand And Hits Unicorn Status

The UK-based health technology startup Cera raised $150 million to expand its platform and services in a recent funding round. The company’s value has now surpassed $1 billion, reaching unicorn status.

According to The Times, the new funding consists of equity and debt and was led by BDT & MSD Partners and Schroders Capital.

Cera, founded by Dr. Ben Maruthappu—current CEO and former National Health Service (NHS) doctor— in 2016, will use the new funding to expand and develop new AI technologies for its in-home healthcare services.

Maruthappu explained that they will focus on improving their current platform and technologies services, such as fall detection among the elderly, and developing more services, such as nursing, mental health, home provision, and physiotherapy services.

According to TechCrunch, firms like DigitalHealth, Guinness Ventures, and Earlymarket are among the company’s main investors. Cera has raised more than $407 million, and sources said that the startup’s revenues have been rewarding, reaching an EBITA-positive status in 2023 and generating more cash from its operations in 2024. Public files should confirm this soon.

“We are getting to profitability, plus we have very significant stale how we’re using our technology and AI, and we’ve expanded into more services in the home,” said Maruthappu to Tech Crunch.

Maruthappu claims his company has helped NHS by taking pressure off and also financially, by saving the public institution £1 million a day. According to the data shared, the company’s 10,000 staff handles 2 million appointments in a month and have helped reduce hospitalization by 70% and shortening wait times.

The California-based startup Hippocratic AI also reached unicorn status a few days ago, after raising $141 million in a Series B round.