LEO Pharma’s innovation arm has picked five startups to invest in, spreading $5.5m funding between health tech start-ups focusing on dermatology, mental health, skin cancer and brain imaging.

Among those inline for funds are two from San Francisco - Remedly, which is working on streamlining dermatologists’ medical practices and patient care, and mental health tech firm Pacifica, whose consumer-facing mobile and web apps have over 1.25 million registered users.

From Europe LEO is supporting a social network called TalkLife that aims to help young people tackle issues ranging from mental health to bullying by harnessing peer support.

The company is working with Microsoft Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University to use machine learning and human-in-the-loop computing to better understand and predict self harm.

LEO’s funds will also be shared by SkinVision from the Netherlands, which has developed the first and only CE-certified online risk assessment for skin cancer through its SkinVision app.

Finally, there is investment too for Combinostics from Finland, a firm that’s building data-driven solutions for improved clinical diagnosis and whose first product is a series of artificial intelligence-based  tools for the quantitative assessment of brain images.

Kristian Hart-Hansen, CEO of LEO Innovation Lab, said: "Digital disruption is happening in our market, and we intend to play a pivotal role in setting the agenda for pharma and healthcare innovation by helping startups hatch and commercialise new ideas.

"The companies chosen for seed investment were carefully selected for their ability to digitally disrupt the industry, and to align with our patient-centric vision and values about holistic healthcare."

Set up in 2015, LEO Innovation Lab is an independent operating unit within LEO that focuses on digital innovation but does not develop pharmaceutical products. It has over 70 staff based at five locations - Copenhagen, London, Paris, Toronto and San Francisco – and its profits are reinvested into unit.

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