The management company Sabadell Asabys, main shareholder of the company Cara Care, has reaffirmed its commitment to the Berlin-based company, which has developed the first prescribed digital health application for Irritable Bowel Syndrome, with participation in a new investment round of 7 million dollars (about 6.7 million euros).
The financing operation facilitates the consolidation of Sabadell Asabys and Johnson & Johnson Innovation, in the shareholding since 2020 and, in addition, allows the entry into the capital of the family group of special nutrition and gluten-free foods Dr. Schär.
The funds raised will be used to accelerate the commercialization of the solution to treat Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in Germany and the United States, explore expansion to France and other European countries, and expand Cara Care's portfolio of digital therapeutic products.
To scale the project, Cara Care has strengthened its management team with the incorporation of James Mapes as CEO; he will work with a staff of 30 employees and with the company's founders: Jesaja Brinkmann and André Sommer. For its part, Asabys is present on the board of directors of the Berlin firm through Josep Lluís Sanfeliu, managing partner, and Guillem Masferrer, investment director.
The experience of the South Tyrolean group Dr. Schär will provide new opportunities for Cara Care to combine nutritional therapy with digital solutions to address special dietary needs, as it is one of the world's manufacturers of nutritional products for chronic kidney failure and congenital disorders of protein or fat metabolism and for ketogenic diets, among others.
Cara Care, the commercial name of the company HiDoc Technologies founded in 2016, has specialized in the development and commercialization of therapeutic digital applications to treat gastrointestinal disorders, with a first digital therapeutic platform that can be prescribed by medical professionals, Cara Care for IBS, for the treatment of irritable bowel, with 650,000 users. The firm also has applications for conditions related to heartburn and chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis), and is developing solutions for other therapeutic areas.
The manager Asabys has invested in Cara Care through its first investment vehicle, Sabadell Asabys Health Innovation Investments SCR, which was launched in 2019, and which reinforces the investment arm's strategy of allocating resources to highly innovative companies that will cover existing medical needs in the Biopharma and Healthtech sectors.