Sifted - Ali Parsa’s secret AI healthtech

Good morning there,

One of the biggest stories I covered in UK tech in 2023 was the fall of Babylon. The one-time-darling of the European healthtech scene, valued at at $4.2bn during its peak, collapsed after running out of money last summer. 

The company’s enigmatic founder, Ali Parsa, has stayed out of the public eye ever since, fuelling speculation about what he would do next. 

Sifted has learned the answer to that. Parsa has raised funding from Swedish VC Norrsken for a new, secretive, AI healthtech venture. The investor holds hundreds of thousands of shares in a Jersey-based entity called Quadrivia Limited — the parent company of a UK-based entity that lists Parsa as a “person with significant control”.

Quadrivia has the ambition of becoming an “AI agent for healthcare”, one source with direct knowledge of the company tells me. I’ve got more on that here.

Elsewhere today:

• Former Meta AR boss and VP of technology at Microsoft joins small UK startup AllFocal as it raises $5.3m
• US-focused AI fintech Cleo hits $150m ARR and eyes return to the UK

— Kai Nicol-Schwarz, reporter

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👀 Babylon founder Ali Parsa has raised funding from Norrsken for a secretive new AI healthtech.

💰 Cambridge, UK-based startup AllFocal Optics, which is developing a lens for augmented and virtual reality, has raised $5.3m (made up of $3.6m equity and $1.7m in grant funding) in a round led by SpeedInvest. 

• 7PC Ventures, Another.VC, Martlet Capital and former professional footballer Mario Gotze also participated. Innovate UK provided the grant funding.
• Ash Saulsbury, formerly head of Meta’s AR programme and previously VP of technology at Microsoft, has also joined the startup as chair.
• The raise comes as the company gears up for the first trials of its tech, in a project with car maker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), beginning in early 2025.

🙌 The UK government has launched a business support AI chatbot to be trialled by up to 15k businesses.

• The tool is being built by a team of in-house data scientists, developers and designers using OpenAI’s GPT-4o.
• Businesses using the chatbot during the trial period will be able to ask it for advice on business rules and support; for now, it’s linked to 30 of the government website's business pages, including those tied to setting up a business and searching for a trade mark.

💪 Cleo, an AI-powered chatbot offering budgeting tips, is planning to expand its product suite and the number of countries it operates in after hitting $150m ARR this year. 

• The fintech, founded in the UK by former Wonga employee Barney Hussey-Yeo, is eyeing a return to operating on its home turf after focusing on the US and wants to beef up partnerships to add to its range of financial products. 
• The fintech is most known for its sassy chatbot that’ll roast you for your spending habits. As it navigates its next steps, however, it’ll have to guarantee the safety of the users it provides personal finance tips to, as well as ensure its AI assistant keeps up with the latest advances in the sector.

🤝 Banking-as-a-service is entering its 'responsible era’ — here’s what that might look like. (Sponsored by Aion Bank)

Last Chance — Sifted’s Nordics Leaderboard!

One week until applications close. Don’t miss out on gaining unparalleled exposure and credibility for your startup by featuring on our ranking of the fastest-growing startups in the region. 

🇫🇷 Paris. French tech reporter Daphné Leprince-Ringuet is at ai-PULSE tomorrow. If you're also there, drop her a line.

🇬🇧 London. Startup Life reporter Anisah Osman Britton will be at the first UK event hosted by Businettes — the largest community for female entrepreneurs in France and Germany — on November 13.

🇫🇮 Helsinki. Editor Amy Lewin and Europe editor Mimi Billing will be at Slush November 19-21. Joining them? Let Amy and Mimi know.

Solingen, Germany-based Dash0, a platform to help developers track data across their applications and infrastructure, raised $9.5m in seed funding. Accel led the round and was joined by investors including Dig Ventures, Guy Podjarny (cofounder, Snyk) and Guillermo Rauch (CEO, Vercel).

Berlin-based Xavveo, which focuses on autonomous vehicle sensor technology, raised $8.6m in seed funding. Vsquared and imec.xpand led the round.

London-based Miros, which uses visual AI tools for e-commerce search, raised €6m in pre-Series A funding. EBRD Venture Capital and Tera Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including Toomas Hendrik (former president of Estonia).

Southampton, UK-based iFast Diagnostics, which has developed tech to test bacteria and determine the most effective antibiotics for patients quicker than current methods, raised $6.5m in seed funding. KHP Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Qantx, UKI2S, Kadmos, Eink, Raw Ventures and Okg Capital.

Tampere, Finland-based Quanscient, which specialises in cloud-based multiphysics simulation technology and quantum algorithms, raised €5.2m in funding. Crowberry Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Speen Holding, Maki.vc and First Fellow.

Vilnius-based Turing College, which provides personalised learning in AI and data science, raised €2.5m in grant funding from the European Innovation Council.

• The company ranked #2 in Sifted’s recent leaderboard on the fastest-growing startups in the eastern European and the Baltics region.

Milan, Italy-based Flyted, which develops drones to create 3D digital twins of infrastructures and real estate, raised €1m in Series A funding. ClubDeal Digital led the round.

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