Health start-up snap40 secures £2M in funding for wearable health monitor

An Edinburgh-based tech company has received £2 million in funding for the development for its wearable health monitoring device.

The health technology company was founded by a former Dundee University medical student Christopher McCann.

The funding is thought to be the largest investment of its kind awarded to a Scotland-based startup. The funding was led by investment firm Par Equity and will allow the company to expand into the EU market. They will do this through growing its engineering and data science team, completing clinical trials and gaining regulatory clearance.

McCann’s snap40 product is a wearable armband that continuously monitors patient’s vital signs, notifying doctors if the patient shows signs of deterioration.

The device is attached wirelessly to patients and transmits data, such as respiratory rate, heart rate, relative change in systolic blood pressure, oxygen saturations, skin temperature and movement, every thirty seconds.

This reduces the overall time it takes for nurses to monitor patients’ vital signs enabling them to focus on other tasks.

The company has a contract with NHS England via the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI).

McCann said “This investment is based on the strength of our product and the progress of our amazing team. We are excited to work with Par Equity and the rest of our shareholders as we build snap40 into a dominant player in the global people-health monitoring market. We have a product that can save lives, while providing clinical and economic benefits to health services.”