Babylon Health

Why are we called Babylon?

In the ancient city of Babylon, almost 2500 years ago, citizens needing medical advice often gathered in the town square to share thoughts on treatments for common illnesses. This is one of the earliest examples of democratising healthcare - and, as it was the Babylonians who enjoyed the longest life expectancy across the ancient world, it’s from our health-conscious ancestors that we take inspiration for our 21st century services.

babylon is the U.K’s leading digital healthcare service. Our purpose is to democratise healthcare by putting an accessible and affordable health service into the hands of every person on earth. In order to achieve this babylon has brought together one of the largest teams of scientists, clinicians, mathematicians and engineers to focus on combining the ever growing computing power of machines with the best medical expertise of humans to create a comprehensive, immediate and personalised health service and make it universally available.

Regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), babylon offers users a personal health service by providing immediate access to General Medical Council (GMC) registered doctors and British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) registered therapists.

Founded in January 2013 and launched to the public in April 2014, the service now covers over 800,000 people globally, with local services operating out of the U.K, Ireland and recently launched for East Africa in Rwanda. A number of leading health insurance providers, including Bupa and Aviva, plus over 120 other companies have also partnered with babylon to offer its services to their employees as part of their benefits packages.

babylon’s 2017 investment of circa US$60m, is the most significant of its kind in Europe, and follows babylon’s investment of US$25m in 2016.

babylon was included in Apple’s list of the best apps in 2015, CB Insights 2017 AI 100 list, and has received a number of accolades, including Mobile App of the Year at the UK IT Industry Awards 2015, Health Investor Awards IT Innovator of the Year for 2015 and 2016 and was named by Wired as one of Europe’s hottest start-ups in September 2016.