Little Journey, the healthtech company transforming the delivery of paediatric care through personalised psychological support, has raised £6m in Series A funding round. Mercia Ventures invested alongside the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund I (NPIF I), Par Equity, Octopus Ventures, Calm/Storm Ventures, and angel investors.
The funding will be used to scale Little Journey’s operations globally with a focus on the US healthcare market. With early adopters already in place, Little Journey aims to continue expansion into this key market to extend its transformative support to more children and families worldwide.
The investment will also fund product enhancements, including the development of its scalable content plus interoperability and data collection capabilities. These advancements will enable healthcare and life science organisations to adopt more data-focused, patient-centric approaches to care and decision making, ultimately improving outcomes for paediatric patients globally.
The funding will also support the maturation of Little Journey’s systems, ensuring the company’s infrastructure and product security are robust and scalable for global adoption.
Chris Evans, co-founder and CEO, commented: “Securing this investment allows us to scale our impact across healthcare and life sciences, with a focus on easing the burden of paediatric clinical trials. While legislation like RACE, SPCs, and the ODA has increased study numbers, specialist paediatric knowledge is still lacking in the industry. This has led to lower recruitment, adherence and trial completion rates compared to adult research. Little Journey is uniquely positioned to fill this expertise gap and tackle these challenges to advance global paediatric medicine. With the backing of Par Equity, Mercia Ventures, Octopus Ventures, and our wider investor network, we’re redefining how paediatric clinical trials are run and putting families at the heart of them.”
Sophie Copley, Co-Founder & CPO of Little Journey, said: “We’re ready to take our product capabilities to the next level. Little Journey already tailors support based on age, language, procedure, and trial protocol. With this Series A funding, we will enhance our data capabilities and further globalise our offering, enabling a data-driven, personalised model of care in paediatrics. This will drive impact for our growing international customer base in a patient-centric way. By empowering families with the right knowledge and resources at the right time, we believe we can help build a brighter, healthier future for all children across the globe.”
Little Journey’s own journey began in 2018, co-founded by Dr Chris Evans and Sophie Copley. As an anaesthetic doctor and father, Chris witnessed first-hand the distress faced by children and their families during hospital visits. Coupled with the fact that over a quarter of the world’s population is under 18 years old, yet paediatric care remains chronically under-researched and under-funded, Chris and Sophie joined forces, complemented by Sophie’s expertise in human-centred product design. The pair created the app to support children undergoing elective surgery, striving to provide the best possible support throughout healthcare interactions.
Little Journey has since evolved to assist thousands of young patients across the globe, is used in over 100 hospitals across 11 countries and has localised content in 20 languages. It holds a content repository to support children and families through 12 procedures including MRI, mental health and neurodevelopment assessment and blood tests, with more coming soon. Alongside healthcare, Little Journey also has partnerships with top global pharmaceutical companies, improving the paediatric clinical trial experience. By reducing barriers to trial participation, the platform empowers families and helps life science organisations accelerate the development and approval of medicines for children.
Par Equity has been instrumental in honing the trajectory of Little Journey’s growth plans. Leveraging its deep expertise in scaling high-growth companies, Par Equity played a key role in shaping a fundraise strategy tailored to Little Journey’s unique needs. Par Equity’s strategic guidance has been crucial in positioning the company for successful expansion into the US market, focusing on cost efficiency and traction.
Elizabeth Young, Investment Manager at Par Equity said: “At present, there exists a pressing need for bespoke technologies tailored to children and Little Journey’s innovative approach to paediatric care does just that. We look forward to seeing what’s in store for the future of children’s healthcare and are excited to support Little Journey’s expansion into the US and beyond.”
Alongside the investment round, the company has also secured significant grant funding, with £2.09 million from the LEGO Foundation’s Play for All Accelerator and £493,000 from SBRI Healthcare. These funds will support Little Journey’s ongoing projects, including enhancing app accessibility for children with disabilities and partnering with the LEGO Foundation to co-create solutions with neurodivergent children