Local digital health company acquired by global insurance leader
Digital health and wellness services company HealthInsite has been acquired by international insurance giant Zurich.
Founded in South Africa in 1999, HealthInsite has established itself in the international corporate health and wellbeing industry as a leader in the provision of digital health solutions for employers and retail clients and has developed a local and international client base with offices in South Africa, Australia, and Brazil.
The transaction enables Zurich’s newly created Business Unit – Zurich LiveWell – with the digital health and wellness capabilities and distribution to strengthen Zurich’s technology, data analytics and multimedia content delivery capabilities.
HealthInsite offers a range of innovative health tech products which impact on engagement, productivity, and health outcomes through the incorporation of health risk assessments, physical activity and biometric tracking, behavioural change challenges that reduce lifestyle risk, sophisticated rewards system and personalised content covering physical, mental, financial and social health.
Zurich has worked closely with HealthInSite since 2018, providing its corporate and retail customers with innovative and customized wellbeing solutions in Australia, Brazil and most recently in Spain. The transaction is subject to foreign investment approval in Australia.
“The perfect match”
Zurich LiveWell was created earlier this year to bring together the Group’s existing health and wellbeing initiatives and expand the services into new markets. The LiveWell brand is already established in Australia and Spain and will now be used globally. Zurich LiveWell will be part of Zurich’s new Global Business Platforms unit, which focuses on digital services and solutions.
Helene Westerlind, CEO of Zurich LiveWell, said: “The acquisition will boost Zurich’s capabilities to deploy innovative health and wellbeing offerings to customers across markets globally with a scalable and modular proposition, aligning with the accelerating global adoption of health technology. We share a strong passion and the objective of truly empowering people to improve their health and wellbeing by providing them with a personalized and unique proposition. This is a perfect match for Zurich LiveWell, and we look forward to our journey together.”
Dr Denis Cronson, co-founder and current CEO of HealthInSite said,” the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the serious risk posed by pervasive metabolic illness in populations around the world. Now more than ever, the use of scalable, personalised digital health technology holds out promise for impacting meaningfully on modifiable lifestyle risk and reducing the health burden of this condition.”
Dr Cronson will take on the role of Chief Sales and Distribution Officer for Zurich LiveWell. He will be responsible for building and delivering the go-to-market strategy as well as developing and managing the global LiveWell sales and distribution models in the corporate and retail business. “We are really proud to see that local health innovation can achieve this kind of international recognition. Through this transaction, our clients will enjoy the benefits of accelerated innovation and international benchmarking.”