Curistica x HealthKey Case Study
What started off as a key short-turnaround project has blossomed into a long-term strategic partnership
When you talk with Curistica Founder Dr Keith Grimes and HealthKey Co-Founder David Jørring, you can instantly see why a mutual connection put them in touch. Coupled with the enthusiasm, intelligence and momentum that successful founders have, they both share a rarer quality: the belief that in working together you can find the solutions to the problems you didn’t know existed today.
HealthKey initially approached Curistica in late 2023 with a very defined brief to accelerate the company to the next level of growth: they had a few weeks in the run up to Christmas to conduct robust clinical due diligence to progress a partnership with Aviva, one of the largest insurance companies in the UK. HealthKey were ‘very much looking for someone as a partner rather than transactional’ relationship, according to David, as they didn’t know exactly what the output was going to be. To achieve this was no small feat: the companies were new to working together, onboarding had to be fast and efficient with the challenging timelines, and success meant that all risk had to be explored, examined and mitigated. Whilst it may have been a challenge too far for many, the Curistica team’s long standing experience in clinical practice and at the cutting edge of health tech meant they immediately jumped at the challenge.
The HealthKey team
Building Clinical Leadership into the Core
Curistica’s blend of collaboration, innovation and market-experience allowed HealthKey to bridge a difficult gap: working with a huge insurance provider who wanted to take an innovative approach but needed to mitigate the risk that could come with this.And it was successful, as David says, having Curistica’s expertise onboard was ‘a stamp of approval’ to demonstrate to this key commercial partner that they had the expertise within their team to manage brand and risk mitigation. Curistica’s expert clinical governance and leadership input in the project played a key part in cementing the relationship that would see HealthKey go on to secure £1.1 million in seed funding in an investment round led by that very same commercial partner.
Almost a year on, having found the sweet spot between governance, risk and innovation, the two companies now work together on an ongoing basis which has allowed them to form a richer strategic partnership. Clinical leadership has become an integral part of the HealthKey product strategy upfront rather than a downstream tick box exercise, inputting into the creation of a stand-out product and saving wasted effort that can often be the case when a clinical voice is not integrated at the beginning of the development process.
Curistica founder Dr Keith Grimes notes “The complexity of the healthcare setting, combined with the need for expert clinical knowledge and risk management, means that health tech companies can find themselves dealing with major headaches that are difficult to resolve deep into the development cycle.’ This is front of mind in Keith, David and their wider teams’ discussions, ensuring ‘early involvement from experienced specialists can help avoid this, build momentum, and increase confidence in the roadmap” HealthKey have found that this clinical input and involvement has resulted in a competitive sales advantage that directly impacts revenue by giving clients without expertise in purchasing preventative health services the confidence to do so.
““Working with Curistica was a stamp of approval that demonstrated we had the expertise within our team to manage brand and risk mitigation.””
The Power of Shared Networks and Vision
In talking with the two founders, it’s also clear that an important part of their partnership is more intangible, and the thing that initially brought them together: their network. Their shared passion for solving the problems that haven’t yet been uncovered mean they’re both at the cutting edge of their fields. Whilst HealthKey’s team are forging forward on the technology side, Curistica use their network and broad market knowledge of grassroots clinical innovation to advise on the clinical and product implications of the technological roadmap, allowing the HealthKey founders to make holistic clinically-informed decisions about development.
It is clear that this successful partnership is something that benefits both companies. When asked what the biggest success of the partnership is, David says that it is moving from project based work to having Curistica as a strategic partner and an integrated part of the team. It is clear to see that this Fractional Chief Medical Officer model is a successful and far-ranging one that adds a lot of value and will be extremely useful to both start-ups and scaleups alike.
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