Online healthcare company Babylon places two units into administration

Assets including its GP at Hand app have been sold in deal that 'secured the future of the Babylon UK operations'

Babylon’s clinical services business, which includes its GP at Hand app serving 100,000 NHS patients, was sold. Photo: Babylon

Babylon Health, the online healthcare company behind the NHS's GP at Hand app, has put two of its divisions into administration, while some of its assets have been sold off.

Restructuring firm Alvarez and Marsal confirmed late on Wednesday that it had been appointed administrator of two of Babylon’s UK businesses, Babylon Group Holdings, its UK holding company, and Babylon Partners, its research and artificial intelligence division.

After Alvarez and Marsal became the administrators, Babylon’s clinical services business, which includes its GP at Hand app that serves 100,000 NHS patients, was sold to US business eMed Healthcare.

Alvarez and Marsal said the sale of assets to eMed Healthcare had “secured the future of the Babylon UK operations, which provide technology-driven preventative healthcare services, alongside other traditional healthcare activities, with over 700,000 patients having had access to Babylon's platforms in the UK”.

Andrea Jakes, managing director of Alvarez and Marsal Europe, said the asset sale “ensures the least possible disruption for Babylon users, which should continue to operate as normal.”

Babylon, founded in 2013 by Iranian-born entrepreneur Ali Parsa, was valued at $4.2 billon when it floated in New York via a special purpose acquisition company (Spac).

However, the shares subsequently crashed and Babylon was forced to cut staff and attempt to sell parts of its business.

Babylon announced in early August that a proposed deal with Albacore Capital and MindMaze Group would not go ahead and that the company was “exploring new strategic alternatives in order to find the best possible outcome for its UK business”.

The company claims that in 2021, it “helped a patient every six seconds, with approximately 5.2 million consultations and AI interactions”.