Health startup, Thriva, announced today the closing of £1.5 million in seed funding. The investment round includes Alex Chesterman, founder and CEO of Zoopla; Taavet Hinrikus, CEO and founder of TransferWise; as well as leading early stage venture funds Seedcamp, 500 Startups and the London Co-Investment Fund (LCIF).
Thriva will use the funding to expand their product range and will soon be able to analyse a variety of health markers from gut health to heavy metals to hormones. As Thriva grows its dataset over time, the data will allow them to improve their machine learning and start to provide more powerful insights and predictions.
Thriva CEO Hamish Grierson says, “In 5 years time we’ll look back and think it’s ludicrous how little most people knew about what was really happening inside their bodies. We’re motivated by a simple view: That the world would be a better place if more people felt it was OK to know their bodies. Your blood can tell an amazing story about your health. Our mission is to ensure that understanding and tracking your biochemistry becomes as normal as counting your steps or jumping on the weighing scales.”
Thriva is bringing that future closer. While a blood test once meant inconvenience and pain, and was only administered to investigate an existing or developing health condition, Thriva’s revolutionary accessibility, simplicity and affordability has changed that. With a simple finger-prick blood test that can be done at home, results within 48 hours, and a dashboard to track health changes over time, Thriva helps people take control of their health, whether to monitor for health issues, or to help people reach peak levels of fitness.
Alex Chesterman, founder and former CEO of Zoopla, said: “We’ve been impressed with Thriva’s rapid growth in the first 12 months and the high customer uptake of subscriptions to Thriva’s Baseline tracking product. We are excited to be supporting Thriva and the vision the team has of taking health tracking to the next level and putting proactive health within the reach of everyone.”
Taavet Hinrikus, founder and CEO of TransferWise, said, “Since launching to customers in June 2016, Thriva have been earning revenues with a seamless product experience married to clinical-grade testing. I’m excited to be involved with such a data-rich business with such big ambitions in a space with a potentially huge market.”
Carlos Espinal, Managing Partner at Seedcamp, said, “We believe the future of medicine will involve a combination of convenience, transparency, approachability, and access to care. We backed the Thriva team because they're focused on helping consumers feel that it's okay to know your body. Put simply, they’re enabling you to improve your life by ensuring that it’s easy to track the insights on your insides."
How Thriva Works
1) Get your Thriva kit, by signing up online.
2) Once your kit arrives, take your test and pop your sample in the post with our pre-paid mailer.
3) Your results are delivered within 48 hours on your personal online dashboard along with GP recommendations on how best to understand and act upon them.
Thriva provides a range of tests, including its popular subscription service Baseline. The quarterly test monitors and tracks cholesterol levels, Vitamin-D deficiency, iron deficiency and poor liver function.
About Thriva
Launched in 2016, Thriva is a venture capital-backed digital health business that puts the power of proactive health into people’s hands. Thriva provides tests to monitor and track a range of biomarkers that reveal the true state of your health. It starts with a simple finger-prick blood test that can be done at home. Within 48 hours, results from a tier-one laboratory are delivered to your personal online dashboard to provide deep insights and long-term tracking of your health, along with GP recommendations to help you understand and act on the results.
