Innovating for Life: supporting Resilience’s Mission in Remote Care

At Red River West, our mission is to support groundbreaking companies that have the potential to become global leaders in their sectors. In line with this vision, we are thrilled to announce our investment in Resilience: a pioneering remote patient monitoring (RPM) platform reinventing cancer care.

A Transformative Vision for Patient Care

Resilience is defining a new approach to patient care. By integrating a beautifully designed mobile app with a robust Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) platform, Resilience empowers patients to better understand and manage the effects and side effects of cancer treatments. This personalised approach not only humanises the patient experience but also contributes to significantly prolonging patients’ lives, improving their quality of life and advancing clinical outcomes. Additionally, the platform supports caregivers by freeing up time for medical resources due to changes in the distribution of care modalities.

RPM is defined by the use digital technologies to collect and monitor patient health data outside traditional healthcare settings. Resilience combines these features, including:

• Symptom Tracking: Patients can regularly measure and report symptoms via a questionnaire shared with their healthcare team. This can help detect & predict health events and coordinate with an alert system
• State-of-the art clinical guidelines & personalised patient experience: enhanced by machine learning capabilities, this is combined with digital support programs including physical activity, meditation, yoga, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Founded in February 2021 by two iconic serial French entrepreneurs, Céline Lazorthes and Jonathan Benhamou, Resilience has quickly established itself as a leader in the RPM space.

A World class founding Duo

Céline, known for founding Leetchi and Mangopay , brings her innovative spirit and expertise in digital solutions. Interestingly, Céline has a family legacy in the medical field. Her grandfather actually discovered an artery, which is named after him: “artère du renflement lombaire de Lazorthes”. This heritage of medical innovation continues with Céline’s contributions through Resilience.

We are particularly proud that she represents the second female CEO in our current fund which also means 75% of fund 2 portfolio companies have female founders. This commitment to diversity is integral to our investment philosophy (and as signatories of the SISTA chart), as we believe it drives better business outcomes and fosters innovation.

Jonathan, the force behind Peopledoc’s success story, adds a wealth of experience in scaling companies internationally. At Red River West we made a point of following journeys like his closely, building Peopledoc at a young age and scaling it in the US embodies our thesis perfectly.

In 2020, Céline and Jonathan both spent a lot of time working together on a nonprofit called ProtegeTonSoignant. Along with 140 people, they raised €7.4M in donations to buy personal protective equipment and deliver it to hospitals in need. In 2021, after spending a lot of time talking with healthcare professionals, they decided to “dedicate at least the next 10 years to those who save lives”. Their partnership, rooted in a long-standing friendship and complementary skill sets, is the backbone of Resilience’s rapid ascent.

Jonathan and Céline are obviously one of the most impressive duo of founders we have ever seen.

Exceptional Traction and Regulatory Milestones

We have been following Resilience since its inception and have been impressed by the company’s exceptional traction. Resilience has been deployed in over 90 medical centers, serving more than 10,000 patients. In October 2023, it became the first remote monitoring medical device in oncology to receive reimbursement from the French national social security system. This milestone, achieved after rigorous validation by the regulatory agency HAS, underscores the clinical and organizational value of Resilience’s solution.

The company’s growth trajectory has been nothing short of remarkable. Resilience has now raised an additional $25M and we are absolutely thrilled to lead this round with our friends at Picus Capital. This new funding will accelerate Resilience’s deployment in France and internationally, with an initial focus on Belgium and Germany.

Impacting millions of lives

In France alone, over 430,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed every year (20 million globally). The World Health Organization highlights that approximately 1 in 5 people will develop cancer in their lifetime.

While a traditional VC investment analysis focuses on making sure that the TAM is multi-billion, it was nice to also focus on how many million lives could be positively impacted in a context of high anxiety and high levels of stress for patients and caregivers.

If you want to dig into the science, the results of the Capri (Cancérologie Parcours de soins Région Île-de-France) study were published by none other than the world’s leading multidisciplinary science journal: Nature (available here), it shows a reduction in severe side effects, a decrease in hospitalizations, and shorter hospital stays.

Expansion opportunities that fit with our thesis

Our investment in Resilience aligns perfectly with our thesis of supporting European leaders poised for global expansion. We have previously invested in Ada Health, which has thrived in the US market, achieving category leader status. Similarly, we believe Resilience has the potential to become a European leader in RPM before targeting the substantial US market. Germany is the next stop, where Resilience is negotiating with the German medical regulator, BfArM, to include RPM apps in the country’s reimbursement scheme (Since 2019, DiGA regulation has allowed doctors in Germany to prescribe app and web-based therapy via public healthcare).

Geographic expansion isn’t the only growth avenue for Resilience. In November 2023, Resilience acquired French IBS monitoring platform GutyCare, broadening the scope of care it provides. Additionally, by leveraging real-world data collected from users of its RPM medical device and structured within its Health Data Warehouse, Resilience fully engages in scientific and medical research. The company is venturing into the pharmaceutical sector. In September 2023, Resilience launched an RPM platform which helps pharma companies monitor patients in clinical trials. They have already several pharmaceutical customers for this product.

This is where we see a US expansion opportunity in the midterm, the market size for contract research organizations (CROs) was estimated at 60B$ in 2023 (source).

At Red River West, we are driven by a passion for innovation and a commitment to making a meaningful impact. As Resilience continues to break new ground in RPM and cancer care, we are proud to stand by their side and look forward to the journey ahead.

When it comes to health, Resilience is key.

JH.