Penelope Health, a real-time provider and payer policy intelligence platform out of London, today announced a funding commitment of €87 million ($100 million), as well as a partnership with HealthTech infrastructure platform Thoreau – in order to create a shared layer for real-time payments and clinical rules.
The funding was committed by Thoreau, along with existing backers Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments (BHI), Twine Ventures, and Seedcamp. The funds will be used to create new products that bring administrative efficiency to navigating payer requirements.
“The rules that determine whether care is covered by insurance are foundational to the healthcare system, yet they remain opaque, fragmented, difficult to interpret, and are constantly changing. Penelope was founded to turn that complexity into a dependable, up-to-date reference that healthcare companies can use in real time,” says Dr. Sohum Patel, Chief Executive Officer of Penelope Health.
Penelope Health’s funding comes amid continued 2026 investment in European healthcare infrastructure and AI tools aimed at reducing administrative workloads.
EU-Startups has reported approximately €182.5 million across a selected group of comparable and adjacent rounds this year, including €86.5 million for Stockholm-based Tandem Health, up to €37 million for Berlin-based Recare, and €4.2 million for Barcelona-based Health Force, whose AI agents handle hospital-insurance processes such as prior-authorisation checks and claims.
In the UK, London-based Semble raised €34.7 million to scale its healthcare management platform, while Flexzo AI secured €10.3 million for agentic healthcare workforce technology.
Mattijs De Paepe, Chief Technology Officer of Penelope Health, adds, “Realising our vision requires a deep technical understanding of constantly evolving payer rules. We are excited to build the infrastructure for AI to power a more efficient healthcare system. The opportunity extends far beyond any single workflow. We believe that a shared infrastructure layer can remove administrative burden for both payers and providers.”
Penelope was co-founded in 2025 by Dr. Sohum Patel, Chief Executive Officer, and Mattijs De Paepe, Chief Technology Officer. Before founding Penelope, Dr. Patel practiced in both inpatient and outpatient settings in the UK’s National Health Service at the Royal Free London and University College London hospital systems, where he saw firsthand how administrative complexity interferes with patient care.
Mattijs previously spent nearly four years at Via Transportation, where he built machine-learning systems for the company’s transit products.
The company explains that they convert the complex web of disparate data into a single infrastructure layer for healthcare. The platform enables healthcare companies to check coverage requirements, compare policies across payers, and streamline their internal operations, providing organisations with instant, structured access to payer medical coverage policies across the majority of insured Americans.
This replaces the custom, one-off connections and manual searches for policy information, with a single connection any system can use.
Penelope’s platform currently covers policies for over 200 million Americans, spanning more than 15,000 procedures and drug codes.
