Peppy Health, an app that connects people going through challenging health stages with real-life, experienced practitioners via a secure mobile app, has been crowned winner of Digital Health Rewired Pitchfest 2021.

In a live final at Digital Health Rewired on Friday 19 March, Peppy Health went head-to-head with three other finalists: Concentric Health, a digital consent and shared decision-making web application; MediShout, an app that digitises operational processes to save time; and Tekihealth Solutions, a remote diagnostic solution that helps provide clinicians offer immediate medical intervention.

Peppy Health’s solution provides access to chats, webinars, vetted resources and video or phone consultations. Its aim is to support users through challenges including menopause, fertility and parenthood, while decreasing pressure on health services.

It was founded in 2018 by Mridula Pore, Evan Harris and Max Landry, who all saw a gap in the market and an opportunity to offer a solution for organisations looking to better support their people. Peppy Health currently works with Santander, SAP, BNP Paribas, Aviva and Wickes, with plans to expand more widely in the health and care sector.

Mridula Pore said: “We know that, often, major life transitions aren’t supported adequately by traditional health services, healthcare benefits or private medical insurance. 

“Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to more demand than ever before for virtual healthcare solutions that are accessible by all. Peppy gives its users trustworthy, practitioner-led fertility, perinatal and menopause support, available at the touch of a button via a secure mobile app.”

Upon winning the competition, Pore said: “I am delighted, I don’t know what to say. It’s huge because we really want to look at serving the needs of organisations and we know that the NHS is under huge pressures and we want to be part of helping that.”

As winner, Peppy Health has the opportunity to have its innovation tested and scaled at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust through its CW Innovation programme. Run in partnership with hospital charity CW+, CW Innovation identifies, embeds and evaluates a portfolio of initiatives and solutions that improves patient care and addresses some of the real-time challenges that healthcare organisations face today.

It is the second year the CW Innovation programme has offered winners a real-world test bed in whichever care setting their concept or start-up is based.

Pore added: “I’m absolutely thrilled to have the chance to work with CW+… it’s also my local patch so it really means a lot to me personally as well.”

Chris Chaney, chief executive of CW+, who announced the winner during the virtual PitchFest final, said: 

“We are delighted to again be providing a real-world test bed for this year’s Pitchfest winner.

“Since last year’s Pitchfest in March 2020, we’ve witnessed unprecedented advances in clinical innovation in response to the greatest healthcare challenge of our generation. As a sector we have innovated at pace and introduced a range of new solutions that are fundamentally changing the way our hospitals and health systems work and interact with the communities we serve.

“We are looking forward to working with Peppy Health at Chelsea and Westminster over the coming year and hopefully supporting the wider dissemination of this new and entrepreneurial solution across the NHS network.”

Peppy Health beat more than 120 Pitchfest entries to win the prize, competing against 16 finalists during the Rewired festival in daily heats.

Applications for the 2021 edition of Pitchfest opened in November 2020 with a panel of judges given the hard task of choosing the final 16.

The judging panel consisted of:

• Jon Hoeksma CEO of Digital Health
• Chris Chaney, CEO of CW+
• Jenny Thomas, programme director at DigitalHealth.London
• Emma Harvey, head of Innovation Lab at NHSX
• Richard Corbridge, CIO at Boots
• Stephen Watkins, managing director at Boots, Ireland
• Megan Morys-Carter, programme director at The Hill
• Chris Sawyer, innovation lead for digital health at Innovate UK.