- Wirral based Blüm Health have extended their international reach through specialist export support
- Co-founder Dr Michael Watts explains how support from the Liverpool City Region Export Support Programme has helped the business expand
Blüm Health is a one-stop-shop Digital Health delivery partner. Offering services from roadmap planning and clinical regulatory support, to AI implementation, product design, development, and deployment, Blüm work with public and private sector organisations across the UK and internationally.
Founded in the Wirral by a team of clinicians and engineers, Blüm Health specialise in bridging the gap between healthcare excellence and technological innovation. They pride themselves on their extensive experience in ideating, building, and executing innovative projects, and they have built a portfolio of full scale solutions (SaaS and SaMD) for Hospitals, Universities, and industry partners both in the UK and internationally. They are passionate about regulatory compliance, scalability, and patient-centricity and this comes as standard across their products and services.
Blüm Health co-founder Dr Michael Watts explains more about their work and recent successes:
“Blüm have a strong track record of delivering digital transformation through consultancy services or product delivery, which was highlighted when we recently won the Medilink North of England NHS Partnerships award, this allows us to provide an end-to-end capability to increase organisational productivity, workforce capability, and improved patient outcomes. We also support private sector organisations through bespoke development and regulatory compliance.”
Blüm currently operates across the UK and US and are being supported by the Department for Business and Trade in delivering their value overseas, including being featured on their ‘Go Global’ showcase and taking part in several trade missions. They have also worked closely with UNICEF in Latin America and the Caribbean in digitally transforming local Women and Children’s Hospitals.
Whilst already having a strong international reach, Blüm were looking to expand their export activities and turned to Growth Platform’s Export Support Programme for support. Dr Michael Watts explains:
“Early internationalisation is a key consideration for all businesses looking to grow and accessing support through Growth Platform was key to expanding our markets. We benefited from a business diagnostic which resulted in an export action plan, helping us to understand our solutions true value, and realise where else in the world people may benefit from our offering.”
A better understanding of which markets offered the most potential opportunities for growth meant that Blüm were able to strategically plan the next steps for their business. It was this planning that led them to Global Health in Riyadh in October 2024, through the Export Support Programme they were able to access grant funding to support their visit.
Dr Michael Watts continues:
“Grant funding is an easy way for small businesses to begin exploring international markets. The support was invaluable to us when looking to attend events overseas.”
Attending the conference provided Blüm with a number of new connections which they will be following up on in the coming months. They are now looking to grow their reach in this region and their established overseas markets.
When discussing their plans for the future Dr Watts explains:
“Over the next few years we are looking to continue to grow our business across the Americas and the Gulf Cooperation Council area.”
The support they have received through the Export Support Programme has had a positive impact on Blum’s operations in the UK as well as the wider health and life sciences sector.
Dr Michael Watts describes the benefits they have seen:
“Thanks to Growth Platform we now have the opportunity to further expand our business beyond the borders of the UK. This has not only enabled us to grow the business, but to also take learnings from the international healthcare industry to support our NHS.”