London-based healthcare messaging app Forward Health raises $3.9 million

You know that a topic is hot when two similar startups both secure a few million in funding within a week. Looks like instant messaging for health professionals is one. British messaging app for doctors and other healthcare professionals Forward Health has raised $3.9 million led by Stride.VC, with additional backing from Albion Capital. The news comes only a few days after another startup with the same idea, Siilo from the Netherlands, raised €4.5 million.

Founded in 2016 by two UK doctors and a serial entrepreneur, Forward Health offers a messaging solution to some 5,000 British doctors and clinicians. The solutions “allows staff to avoid the NHS’ inefficient network of pagers and landlines, and reduces reliance on insecure apps such as WhatsApp,” the company stated in a press release.

The startup plans to spend the fresh funding to get more doctors in the UK to use the platform, as well as widen the audience to serve people “across every part of the healthcare landscape.”