Shearwater invests in Graphnet

Shearwater Healthcare Solutions has made its first move in the healthcare IT market with a major investment in Graphnet Health.

The business accelerator was started by System C Healthcare founders Dr Ian Denley and Markus Bolton in October last year.

Shearwater’s investment will be used to develop the Graphnet CareCentric electronic health record systems.

CareCentric is a modular suite of software designed to allow clinicians to work safely and effectively across disciplines and across organisations.

Shearwater will also provide support across all areas of the business including corporate development, product design and development, and sales and marketing.

Co-founder of Graphnet Tony Sharer said he had known Denley and Bolton for 15 years.

“They have a great reputation and I think that the skills and experience of them and their team are going to invigorate and turbocharge Graphnet,” he said.

Sharer added that Graphnet had a lot of potential and there was a sense of excitement about what the companies could do together.

Shearwater’s model is to provide portfolio companies with finance and substantive operational input in order to accelerate growth as well as the strategic guidance traditionally supplied by investors.

Bolton is taking an executive directorship on the Graphnet Board.

He said: “Graphnet’s USP is that they are connected to everything and relationships with everyone. They have a lot of data from both health and social care. It gives a phenomenal platform for moving forward.”

Bolton declined to state how much the investment was, describing it as a “very substantial minority stake designed to accelerate (Graphnet’s) growth and development.”

Dr Denley said: “Multi-agency and cross health community care are the next big growth areas for health and social care computing and Graphnet’s products and substantial user base provide us with an excellent platform to support this market.”