Telecom invests $5m in Kiwi health start-up

Telecom is planning to invest $5 million for a 40% stake in promising New Zealand start-up firm Vigil Wireless Sensor Technologies Limited (Vigil), to introduce new health solutions into the Kiwi market and target other market opportunities.

Vigil is a privately owned biometric technology company founded in 2012 by scientist, inventor and social entrepreneur, Sir Ray Avery, who is the company’s Chief Scientific Officer.

Its commercialisation has been aided by funding from Callaghan Innovation, the Government’s new high-tech HQ for kiwi businesses.

Sir Ray Avery says that Vigil is responding to a growing challenge, with increases in ageing populations and obesity across the developed world fuelling an epidemic of long-term health conditions.

“New health delivery models using digital technologies are needed to address worsening macro health-trends and help reduce health-care costs," Sir Ray says.

"Technology is the key to unlocking those new models of care. For example, Vigil offers an intelligent medical alarm using a bracelet and base station that will raise an alarm automatically if an adverse event such as a fall or change in heart rate is detected.

"Smart technologies such as this will enable more effective methods of medical monitoring. The potential benefits to New Zealand are enormous.”

The demographic trends are significant according to Sir Ray, with Statistics New Zealand projecting the population aged 65 and over will grow to over 780,000 by 2021 and over 1,000,000 by 2031.

By 2051, around 1.18 million people are expected to be aged 65 and over in New Zealand, representing an increase of 165% since 1999.

Technology

Vigil uses new sensing and digital technologies to provide a range of intelligent biometric medical monitoring and care services, designed to increase personal well-being and safety.

The Vigil products and services ecosystem is run off a Cloud based platform, which provides smart biometric monitoring connectivity across a range of devices - providing active, continuous biometric monitoring in real time.

Following the deal, Telecom Digital Ventures CEO Rod Snodgrass believes the growth potential for Vigil is significant.

“The demand for smarter remote health monitoring systems will only grow as the population ages," Snodgrass says. "Vigil offers medical monitoring solutions with many potential applications and with global potential.

“It’s a great fit with Telecom’s digital innovation arm Digital Ventures. Vigil has market-leading digital technologies that run across telecommunications networks and the Cloud – areas where Telecom has obvious strengths.

"Digital Ventures is all about delivering connected digital experiences, and we see the health sector as having significant potential for the introduction of new and commercially viable digital services with high growth potential such as Vigil.

“Vigil is led by internationally respected individuals, including Sir Ray Avery and Chairman Keith Oliver. It has sound growth strategies and is well placed to respond to rapidly changing health sector dynamics.

"Our focus will be on helping to build momentum and scale behind this exciting and innovative New Zealand business.”