Sword Health, a Portuguese digital physiotherapy startup that has developed technology combining artificial intelligence with motion sensors, has raised an investment of $ 85 million (about 71 million euros), is moving the company to Expresso. The Series C round was led by General Catalyst – an investor in companies such as Airbnb, Stripe and Snapchat – and also included Bond, Highmark Ventures and BPEA, in addition to current investors Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Transformation Capital and Green Innovations. …

Since the beginning of this year, the Portuguese company has raised $ 110 million (€ 92 million) after raising $ 25 million (€ 21 million) in January in a Series B investment.

“We did not think about attracting investments until the end of this year or early next. But last January we entered the United States. [EUA] and we have had explosive growth since April or May, ”said Virgilio Bento, founder and CEO of the company, to Expresso. “Our investor proposed the next round, and we ended up taking advantage of what I call the Silicon Valley VC social network.” After that, 15 more leading investors came to me. In May, two and a half weeks later, we had a plan [termos e condições do investimento] signed the $ 85 million round. “

Series C – a round of investments in high-growth, high-income, customer-base startups that typically want to leverage capital to develop new products, enter new markets, or acquire competitors – will enable Sword to grow in the United States, a market where the company is growing rapidly. – explains Virgilio Bento.

“This is our most important market, and part of the investment is towards exponential growth, for which I need resources,” he explains. Over the next six to twelve months, Sword Health will recruit 200 engineers and people for the food industry in Portugal and another 200 people in the United States, particularly in the commercial, marketing and customer sectors, to join the 200 people the company currently has offices in. Porto, Lisbon, Salt Lake City (USA) and distributed throughout the USA.

The capital will also accelerate the global expansion of the company, which already operates in the US, Europe and Australia. “We want to expand further in Europe, Asia, South America and this month we are going to enter Canada,” he adds, adding that the $ 85 million will also drive the technological development of the healthcare platform by investing in a team of engineers from products and clinical developments located in Portugal.

A unicorn by the end of the year?

When asked by Expresso about the valuation of the company and the percentage of equity donated to investors, Sword’s executive president said he could not disclose those figures. Virgilio Bento adds that the founders no longer have most of the capital, “and it was not expected that this will be so in the C series.”

By an estimate, he guarantees that the company is approaching the $ 1 billion mark. “If we wanted to wait another three or four months, that would be our estimate,” he assures. “We accepted the offer with the lowest rating of all, because we prefer to choose the right investor for us.” And adds that “The sword is likely to be a unicorn by the end of the year.”

The belief in the possibility of getting an estimate of more than one billion dollars in the short term “is connected with an arithmetic question: the multipliers in relation to the income we received in this round, and the forecast of the income that we will have at the end of the year according to a normal (not optimistic) estimate “- he emphasizes. And adds that in six months the company has already reached 75% of the estimated revenue for this year.

Reducing costs and increasing efficiency

Sword Health has developed groundbreaking technology that combines artificial intelligence with state-of-the-art motion sensors, which the company believes is more effective and less expensive than conventional treatments. To reduce pain and disability resulting from musculoskeletal disorders, the solution allows patients to conduct physiotherapy sessions at home under the supervision of a clinical team who gives them real-time feedback. These are physiotherapists and doctors who prescribe, evaluate, validate and remotely control the therapy program.

Since its founding in 2015, Sword has devoted the past few years to technology development and clinical validation. It is the only musculoskeletal therapy that can treat chronic and postoperative pain, and the only one with clinical results that outperforms a human therapist, by 30%, Sord says.

He currently works with insurers, healthcare systems and businesses in the US, Europe and Australia to make this help available to everyone.

“These companies are spending $ 120 million a year on patients with musculoskeletal disabilities, and we are cutting those costs,” says the Sword founder. “This saves them between $ 20 million and $ 30 million a year,” he adds, explaining that in the US, companies with more than 2,500 employees, such as Pepsi, one of their clients, are responsible for health insurance and cover all costs. … health expenses of their employees.

In just one year, Sword’s revenue grew 600% and the number of patients receiving treatment increased by more than 1000%, the company said, without specifying specific numbers.

“It’s impressive when Sword grows during a pandemic,” says Founders Fund director Delian Asparuhov. “It is currently part of the 1% of the fastest growing startups in the United States, with a huge market that is still not fully explored. Sword is positioned as one of the most important healthcare companies in the world for the next five years. “

Musculoskeletal disorders are a leading cause of chronic pain and disability, affecting over two billion people worldwide and often requiring expensive surgical procedures. This is a market that is valued at $ 190 billion.