UK-Based Roadtohealth Secures $4M Funding to Advance Quealth Disease Risk Assessment Platform

Health and lifestyle apps have quietly become an integral part of daily life, with users sharing step counts on social media, using apps to remind themselves to stay hydrated, and following workout videos on Keep. However, the majority of medical apps focus on health, diet, and exercise, with only one-quarter dedicated to disease assessment and management.

Quealth, an award-winning health management app, is capable of providing relatively precise disease assessments and helping users achieve their health goals. Recently, Road to Health, the UK-based company behind the app, secured over $4 million in investment from Reinsurance Group of America (RGA), a globally renowned insurance company. As part of the deal, RGA has acquired a minority stake in Road to Health. This partnership will help accelerate Quealth’s expansion into global markets and optimize its product platform.

RoadtoHealth, established in 2002, offers its flagship product, the Quealth APP, which is currently available for free on the Apple App Store, Google Play, Samsung Galaxy Store, and Lenovo’s newly launched APP Management Assistant. This enables health-conscious users to assess their risk of developing the five major non-communicable diseases.Diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, these diseases are generally preventable through lifestyle improvements and are more common in developed countries.

Quealth's Goal Is to Create a Healthy Lifestyle

To assess health status or calculate disease risk, users must first answer questions across multiple dimensions: family medical history, physical metrics, and lifestyle. The Quealth APP’s patented algorithm then performs calculations based on the user’s data. Users are compared horizontally against a cohort of 100 individuals matched by age, ethnicity, and gender, yielding a score on a scale of 1 to 100.Q-Rating™“Individuals with a score of ‘1’ require immediate treatment, while those with a score of ‘100’ may not need to see a doctor for an extended period. Additionally, the app provides relevant health education content and wellness recommendations.”

In addition to the “Q-Score™” system, Quealth also has “Health Plan” module. The “Health Plan” section lists a range of health goals for users to choose from: lifestyle-related goals such as “I want to reduce alcohol intake” and “I want to increase daily physical activity”; physiological metric-related goals such as “I want to lose weight” and “I want to lower my blood pressure”; and mental and physical well-being goals such as “I want to have more energy” and “I want greater emotional stability.” Each goal corresponds to an implementation plan exclusively customized by Quealth based on the user’s physical condition, incorporating behavioral science principles to continuously track progress toward achieving these health goals. Surveys indicate that 43% of users opted to implement fitness plans, 69% joined weight management programs, 8.2% achieved measurable weight loss, average cholesterol levels decreased by 8.2%, and the risk of cardiovascular disease was reduced by 18%.

The company’s Quealth business has actually accumulated expertise over 12 years, although the Quealth APP has only recently been launched. It is regarded as the most accurate product for health data measurement among health and lifestyle apps on the market. This high acclaim comes not only from the general public but also from numerous medical professionals, including Professor Stephen Weng of the University of Nottingham in the UK.

In 2016, Quealth received the Digital Health Awards and was honored with the Royal Society for Public Health Award for three consecutive years. Roadtohealth has an advisory board composed of several renowned experts who apply real-world clinical cases to optimize the functionality of Quealth’s products. This enables the healthcare app to accurately and comprehensively assess users’ health status through a simple, easy-to-understand, and practical question-and-answer format focused on health behaviors, thereby preventing disease progression and reducing the need for medical intervention.

With 14 years of experience providing risk assessment technologies to global health information agencies, pharmaceutical companies, and insurance providers, the company has established a remarkably solid technical foundation for the Quealth APP. It has already distinguished itself in the field of digital health applications: rather than merely measuring an individual’s current health status, it enables users to understand their potential health risks, formulate plans to mitigate those risks, and improve their overall health. Dr. Philip Smalley, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of RGA International Company (an affiliate of RGA), stated, “Quealth has the capability to integrate professional health scoring systems with extensive user data, which is precisely what our insurance business requires.”

Roadtohealth Leadership Team

Roadtohealth’s core leadership team comprises four individuals who combine expertise in corporate management, insurance industry experience, and digital health insights. Each member is an elite professional from the insurance, healthcare, or IT sectors.

Simon Embley, the company’s chairman, joined the Roadtohealth Executive Committee in 2015. He has 39 years of experience working for several large, high-performing corporations, including Rolls-Royce, Saint-Gobain (France), and Aviva plc (UK). In 2004, Embley led Aviva’s £42 million acquisition of Your Move and Esurv surveyors. He was also an early investor and director at Zoopla Property Group, which went public in 2014 and now has a market capitalization of £919 million.

Alistair Wickens is the CEO and a co-founder of Roadtohealth, with extensive experience in the fields of medicine, retail, and insurance. As one of the key drivers behind the Quealth product, he has successfully steered the company’s robust growth and gradually forged major international partnerships.

Dave Moreau is a corporate executive and strategic partner. He currently also serves as a non-executive director for multiple companies in the fields of digital health, digital content, and advertising. He joined Roadtohealth in 2014, where he was responsible for business development, corporate partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, and the product strategy direction for Quealth.

Jonathan Hughes serves as the executive in charge of finance and product, bringing extensive experience in project design and product development. He previously managed insurance operations serving millions of widowed individuals and retirees. He joined Roadtohealth in 2015.

Roadtohealth, established in 2002, has partnered with Aviva UK, the medical information website Patient.info, Samsung, and HSBC, successfully broadening its international perspective and laying the foundation for further expansion into the global market.

Roadtohealth: Partners and Awards

“American Reinsurance Group is an ideal investor and partner for RoadtoHealth. Like us, they possess deep insights into health risk scoring systems and clearly understand that today’s demand for health assessment software is highly dynamic,” said Alistair Wickens, CEO of RoadtoHealth, in a statement.

Wickens also stated, “This initial $4 million investment from American Reinsurance Group has enabled us to collaborate with academic institutions worldwide, better incorporate the impact of geographic factors on health into our considerations, and join forces with electronics manufacturers, public health organizations, charitable entities, pharmaceutical companies, and life and health insurers to further discuss the development direction of this health assessment app.”

RGA currently holds approximately $3.1 trillion in life reinsurance business, with total assets of around $53.9 billion, and is listed on the Fortune 500. It is reported that the $4 million investment is merely the beginning; subsequent investments will be rolled out gradually based on “RoadtoHealth’s performance and other criteria.”