The intersection of biotechnology and wearable devices is quickly becoming one of the most exciting frontiers in health-tech. As chronic conditions rise, populations age, and demand grows for real-time, personalised health insights, the global wearables market is projected to surge over the coming decade.
One company building at the forefront of this movement is Sava Technologies, a London-based startup founded in 2019 by Renato Circi and Rafaël Michali, two biomedical engineers from Imperial College London.
Sava’s mission: to build the technological foundation for preventative and personalised healthcare, starting with a next-generation biosensor – one that’s painless, affordable, and scalable.
Building the Future of Preventative Health – One Molecule at a Time
Sava has developed a multi-molecule biosensor capable of detecting biomarkers just beneath the skin, in real time. This proprietary technology powers their first product: a pain-free CGM that streams continuous molecular insights directly to your phone, at a fraction of the cost of current alternatives.
In early clinical trials with people with Type 1 & Type 2 diabetes, their microsensors delivered accurate glucose readings for up to 10 days of continuous wear – surpassing the lifespan of existing microsensor platforms, many of which fail after just 24 hours.
The potential is huge. Today, only 1% of people with diabetes use CGMs, yet the market still generates over $11 billion annually, growing at 10% year-on-year. But glucose is only the beginning. Sava’s platform is modular and analyte-agnostic, with the potential to detect other biomarkers like lactate, cortisol, and ketones. This paves the way for a new era of preventative, personalised health monitoring.
With growing interest from athletes and health-conscious consumers, Sava is well-positioned to tap into the global wearables market, projected to exceed $100 billion by 2029.
A Strong Vote of Confidence: $32M in Funding
On 31 July 2025, Sava announced a $19 million Series A led by Balderton Capital and Pentland Ventures, with strong participation from Norrsken VC and JamJar Investments. They were joined by other investors including True, Italian Founders Fund, Athletico Ventures, SOLO Investments and Exceptional Ventures, bringing their total funding to $32 million.
The round reflects growing investor belief in both the scale of the market and Sava’s unique ability to deliver. Balderton partner James Wise described the platform as having the potential to “democratise access to glucose monitoring, as well as many other biomarkers, making them more practical for the millions of people who need them but can’t afford or tolerate the current options. Beyond diabetes, which alone is one of the greatest health challenges of our time, their platform opens the door to an entirely new era of personalised health monitoring.”
With the new funding, Sava is focused on scaling automated manufacturing, growing the team (now ~60 people), and accelerating clinical validation ahead of a pivotal clinical study in 2026.
No Shortcuts: What It Takes to Build a Medical-Grade Biosensor
While consumer wearables have surged in popularity, building a medical-grade biosensor is a different beast entirely – arguably one of the hardest challenges in modern engineering. It’s not just about developing cutting-edge technology; it’s about solving first-principles problems across multiple disciplines at once: chemistry, materials science, electronics, firmware, software, and human-centered design all need to function in lockstep.
Turning that vision into a product requires navigating a relentless series of technical and regulatory hurdles – each of them unforgiving:
- It’s not just a wearable. Sava’s product is a medical device. It must perform reliably across a wide range of real-world scenarios and meet strict safety, efficacy, and quality standards – every single time.
- You don’t get many shots. Most critical decisions – clinical trials, manufacturing lines, regulatory – must be made before the product ever reaches customers. Unlike traditional consumer tech, there’s little room for iteration post-launch. That means learning from users is difficult, and each early decision carries long-term weight.
- There’s no MVP. Biosensors need to be designed for scale and precision from day one. Even tiny changes – like tweaking firmware, switching adhesives, or calibrating a sensor – can set development back by months. Medical-grade manufacturing tolerances leave no margin for error.
- Regulatory validation is non-negotiable. Approval from the, FDA, CA and CE requires extensive clinical trials, audit trails, documentation, and post-market surveillance plans – all long before launch.
Sava has approached these challenges with intention, care, and a long-term strategy. From the beginning, the team chose to operate in stealth mode, focusing on de-risking and solving the deepest technical risks before sharing their work publicly. That patient, first-principles approach is what makes it possible to move from concept to clinical product validation in one of the most demanding regulatory environments in the world.
What Comes Next
While Sava’s initial focus is on the diabetes market, the company’s roadmap is much broader.
Beyond diabetes, multi-analyte sensors could enable proactive health tracking across use cases like recovery, fertility, and stress, opening up opportunities in sports, wellness, and everyday consumer health.
And the timing couldn’t be better. In the UK and globally, wearables are rapidly shifting from niche gadgets to essential healthcare infrastructure, with governments beginning to commit to nationwide adoption within the next decade. As part of the UK’s “Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan for England”, the NHS has pledged to make wearables standard in preventative, chronic and post-acute NHS treatment by 2035, stating:
“All NHS patients will have access to these technologies, which will be part of routine care. We will provide devices for free in areas where health need and deprivation are highest.”
Meanwhile, momentum is building across the Atlantic. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently announced that the Department of Health and Human Services will launch an advertising campaign to encourage Americans to adopt wearable devices, such as those that measure heart rate or blood glucose levels.
Together, these moves mark a clear shift: wearables are no longer optional – they are becoming foundational to the future of care.
For entrepreneurs, Sava offers a case study in how to balance deep R&D with product vision, and how to anticipate and design around regulatory constraints from day one. For investors, it’s a reminder that some of the most transformative products come from companies that stay quiet, move methodically, and solve the hardest problems first.
