#Twenty25 - Funding the future of health tech - Part 17/20 Interview with Molly Gilmartin, AlbionVC

Ian Coyne: Starting with 2025, what are your predictions for the digital health landscape in Europe?

Molly Gilmartin: In 2025, I foresee significant growth in the tech-enabled service space in Europe. Unlike the US, where this space is mature, Europe is just beginning to capture the value along the entire patient pathway. In the UK, this shift is driven by the NHS Patient Choice Framework, which democratizes service provision and fosters innovation. The framework is not that new, but the tech enablement and geographic spread has really accelerated this

More and more, the use of technology is improving patient experience and outcome, and if we can measure these outcomes better than that will be a great driver for growth and investment in 2025

Ian: We focus a lot on innovation from the outside, driving innovation in health systems. What does that look like for you?

Molly: Digital health start-ups have the advantage of designing patient pathways from scratch, using technology to enhance operational efficiency. This allows for better use of skill mix and reduces the need for face-to-face consultations, making the business more scalable and profitable while improving patient outcomes.

There's also a growing appetite for blended reimbursement models, where public health systems work in tandem with private healthcare streams. This creates a lot of opportunities for innovation because the stakeholders are more aligned around areas like cost efficiency and service delivery and there is less legacy to overcome.

Ian: What therapeutic areas do you think will be key for tech-enabled care?

Molly: The key will be to focus on therapeutic areas that lend themselves to digital-first or virtual-first approaches. These areas should have pathways that are not too standardized, allowing room for delivery model innovation.

New therapeutic advancements, like GLP-1 drugs and memory drugs, are driving the need for new delivery models. These advancements require digital health tools for monitoring, diagnostics and behavioral change, creating a demand for digital-first solutions. This shift is disrupting traditional healthcare systems, as they are not set up to deliver these new types of care. Digital health providers can integrate these advancements into their care models, offering holistic and efficient solutions.

We're already seeing early-stage companies exploring these areas, and once they figure out the scalable aspects, they can become successful.

Ian: How do you see the role of public health systems evolving with the integration of technology?

Molly: Public health systems in Europe have traditionally focused on quality and safety. With the integration of technology, there's an opportunity to personalize care protocols based on individual data, making resource allocation more efficient. This approach can stretch public health budgets further while maintaining equity of care. However, implementing these changes from within existing systems is challenging. Start-ups with a blank slate can drive innovation more effectively, as seen in the outsourcing of ophthalmology services in the NHS which is broadly seen as a successful, cost effective and innovative model.

Ian: How do you see the consumerization of healthcare evolving?

Molly: The consumerization of healthcare is inevitable. While B2C models have traditionally been challenging due to high customer acquisition costs, the emergence of B2C2B model (where the patient or consumer can advocate for themselves into their provider or insurer) is also a form of consumerisation but in a more sustainable way. These models can be creative around customer acquisition costs (CAC) because there are ways to acquire large groups of customer-cohorts through this model, and the fact the care is being reimbursed by ‘B2B’ whether it is a state system or private payor means the longitudinal ‘value’ of a patient will be more sustained

Ian: Where do you think the line will be drawn between wellness and therapeutic care?

Molly: In the past, companies had to choose between wellness and therapeutic care in quite a binary way. However, I believe the future lies in integrating both. Start-ups should begin with complex care and gradually move upstream to wellness, using their population health engines to monitor and offer preventative solutions. This approach ensures that the value captured is substantial enough to retain customers. Owning the patient from sickness to wellness can be a valuable journey and starts to build the business case and data for preventative health models

Ian: Linked to that – what are the challenges in creating business cases for preventative health?

Molly: The main challenge is quantifying the health economics of prevention. It's difficult to prove that upstream interventions reduce long-term healthcare costs. However, as digital health providers collect more data, they can build stronger business cases for preventative health. This will require a shift in how we price and value upstream consultations compared to acute care. Start-ups with end-to-end data will be better positioned to demonstrate the true value of preventative health.

That’s my magic wand wish – to have this data set that could start to put value on preventative health interventions – for example how could three, earlier & lower cost digital first interventions remove a significant cost to the health system further down the line. They are just the direct healthcare costs.

---

Molly Gilmartin, Investment Director, AlbionVC

Molly is a medically-trained former startup operator who brings a wealth of insights to her role. Specialising in health tech, she is constantly on the lookout for innovators devising products that can drive efficiency and better outcomes for patients.

Molly joined AlbionVC in 2022 from McKinsey & Co, where she focused on healthcare systems, services and technologies. Before that, Molly was chief commercial officer of Induction Healthcare Group – a health tech startup which successfully floated on London’s junior AIM market in 2019.

She was also a founding team member of healthcare comms startup, Pando, and has worked as an NHS Clinical Entrepreneur.

Molly holds a degree in Medicine & Surgery, and a BA in Molecular Medicine, from Oxford University.

About AlbionVC