Penelope Health's $100M Bet on Fixing Healthcare's Hidden Rules

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-18

What if the biggest problem in healthcare isn't medicine, but paperwork? That's the question Penelope Health is trying to answer. The London-based startup just secured €87 million ($100 million) in funding, and it's not just about the money—it's about untangling the messy, opaque rules that decide whether your care gets covered. ### The Funding Round and What It Means The commitment comes from Thoreau, a health tech infrastructure platform, along with existing backers Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments (BHI), Twine Ventures, and Seedcamp. Together, they're backing Penelope's vision to build a shared layer for real-time payments and clinical rules. The funds will fuel new products that make navigating payer requirements less of a headache. "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," says Dr. Sohum Patel, CEO of Penelope Health. "Penelope was founded to turn that complexity into a dependable, up-to-date reference that healthcare companies can use in real time." That's a mouthful, but it boils down to this: Penelope wants to be the Google Translate for insurance policies. ### A Surge in European Health Tech Investment Penelope's raise is part of a broader wave. In 2026 alone, European healthcare infrastructure and AI tools have attracted serious capital. Just look at the numbers: - Stockholm's Tandem Health raised €86.5 million - Berlin's Recare pulled in up to €37 million - Barcelona's Health Force secured €4.2 million for AI agents that handle prior-authorization and claims - London's Semble raised €34.7 million to scale its healthcare management platform - Flexzo AI got €10.3 million for agentic healthcare workforce tech All told, that's roughly €182.5 million ($210 million) across comparable rounds. Clearly, investors see administrative waste as a problem worth solving. ### How Penelope Works Penelope's platform converts a complex web of disparate data into a single infrastructure layer. Healthcare companies can check coverage requirements, compare policies across payers, and streamline internal operations. Instead of custom, one-off connections and manual searches, they get instant, structured access to payer medical coverage policies. Currently, the platform covers policies for over 200 million Americans, spanning more than 15,000 procedures and drug codes. That's a lot of rules—and they change constantly. "Realising our vision requires a deep technical understanding of constantly evolving payer rules," says Mattijs De Paepe, CTO. "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." ### The Brains Behind the Startup Penelope was co-founded in 2025 by Dr. Patel and De Paepe. Dr. Patel previously practiced in the UK's National Health Service at Royal Free London and University College London hospitals, where he saw how administrative complexity interferes with patient care. De Paepe spent nearly four years at Via Transportation, building machine-learning systems for transit products. Their combined experience—medicine and machine learning—gives them a unique angle on a problem that costs the U.S. healthcare system billions annually. > "We believe that a shared infrastructure layer can remove administrative burden for both payers and providers." — Mattijs De Paepe, CTO So what's next? With this funding, Penelope plans to expand its reach and build more tools to make healthcare administration less of a black box. If they succeed, it could mean fewer denied claims, faster payments, and more time for what actually matters: patient care.