UK-based digital health platform Babylon Partners is best known for its remote medicine platform, which includes patented and peer-reviewed artificial intelligence-aided diagnostics. In December of 2020, the company won its second grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help digitize healthcare in Rwanda.
However, the company's latest patent application moves away from diagnostics and covers sleep detection. The application was filed while Babylon was undergoing a Series C fundraising round that ended in $550M for the startup, and expanding its portfolio may have helped make Babylon a more attractive target for investment. The application covers a probability model for sleep and wakefulness that can be correlated with other mathematical functions that describe biological processes such as melatonin secretion. This technology is in line with Babylon's AI work and may prove novel enough for patenting. But where will the company go from here? Consumer sleep is dominated by wearables and electronics giants such as Fitbit (now owned by Google), Philips, and Samsung. If Babylon wants a robust sleep portfolio, it can use some of its $2B in total funding to both invest in further R&D and partner with other companies for comprehensive sleep solutions. You can view more movement in consumer sleep on our Patent Forecast®.
