- Stride, founded by Olympic medalist Andrew Steele, has raised £4.6 million in seed funding.
- The company provides testing using DNA, blood, and gut samples, along with personalised insights, and plans to expand Stride One internationally by the end of 2026.
- The funds will back two projects: one involving a multiomic method for assessing biological age, and another focusing on an AI health copilot capable of integrating lab results, wearable data, and health records.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, British 400m sprinter Andrew Steele crossed the line fourth in the 4x400m relay, missing the podium by fractions of a second 1350. Nine years later, international anti-doping authorities retested stored athlete samples and issued a retroactive disqualification, awarding the British quartet the Olympic bronze.
Now, Steele is applying that same rigour, ongoing biochemical monitoring, high-precision lab diagnostics, and habit adjustment, to consumer longevity. Stride, his preventive health membership which he launched in 2023, closed a seed round of £4.6 million.
Investors in this round include Arāya Ventures, Better Ventures, Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures, Innovate UK, an investor from the a16z Scout Fund, and several angel investors.
The company provides testing using DNA, blood, and gut samples, along with personalised insights, and plans to expand Stride One internationally by the end of 2026.
From a retested relay medal to a Nasdaq listing
Before that, Steele founded the personal genetics company DNAfit after his athletic career. Prenetics acquired DNAfit in April 2018, and Steele then became chief product officer for the EMEA region, a position he held until he left in January 2023.
Prenetics listed its shares on the Nasdaq on 18 May 2022 after merging with the SPAC Artisan Acquisition Corp at a value of $1.25 billion, with the announcement describing the listing as successful.
Steele stated that prevention has a bad image and that its commercial success lies in altering behaviour on a large scale: “For most of my life, I’ve been obsessed with understanding what makes people perform at their best. Elite athletes have long understood the value of testing, tracking and continually adapting. But that approach shouldn’t be reserved for people competing at the highest level.”
“We’re seeing a cultural shift towards prevention, with people taking much more ownership of their health and wanting to understand what is happening inside their bodies. Stride is being built to give millions of people the tools to do exactly that, helping them move from simply being ‘normal’ to becoming their healthiest, highest-performing selves,” he added.
What Stride sells
Stride’s DNA test examines genes such as MTHFR. Members can arrange individual consultations with a dietitian. The kits are dispatched from a UK laboratory to customers worldwide.
Stride One membership also provides an estimate of biological age based on nine blood biomarkers.
According to the company, Stride is the UK’s first diagnostics-based preventive health membership. It is entering the hospitality sector by providing diagnostics via a health concierge at triplebond, a social wellness club located at The BoTree hotel in Marylebone, and is also collaborating with Long Lane, an alcohol-free wellness club and hotel near Midhurst in West Sussex.
Stride also compares its service to the NHS, noting that lifestyle-related diseases place a substantial financial burden on the health service.
Steele added: “Preventative health can sometimes sound boring or worthy, when actually it could be one of the most transformative opportunities of our generation. If we can make better health exciting, aspirational, and genuinely engaging, and use deeper analysis to give people better insights earlier in life, we could change everyday behaviours at a scale that could fundamentally reshape how long and how well we live.”
The funds provided by Innovate UK are being used to back two projects: one involving a multiomic method for assessing biological age, and another focusing on an AI health copilot capable of integrating lab results, wearable data, and health records.
A crowded field with major investments
The amount invested in this sector is about 1.4% of the sum that Stride has received. Function Health obtained $450 million in non-dilutive growth financing from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund in July 2026. Meanwhile, Superpower raised $30 million in a Series A led by Forerunner in April 2025, and Neko Health raised $700 million in a Series C in July 2026.
In the UK and Europe, the market is smaller. As reported by Tech Funding News, Emerald landed $2 million in its pre-seed round in January 2026 for a UK AI preventive plan. Ahead Health raised $10 million for preventive care in Germany and the Netherlands, while Lucis raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Singular.
The global market for preventive healthcare technologies and services will grow from $412.59 billion in 2026 to $741.85 billion by 2031, representing a compound annual growth rate of 12.45%.
Rupa Popat, founder and managing partner at Arāya Ventures, said, “Stride sits at the intersection of some of the most important shifts in healthcare: prevention, personalisation and the consumerisation of health. We believe the opportunity to help people understand and act on their health data earlier is enormous and look forward to being on the journey with Andrew and the team.”
Stride’s biggest challenge will be retaining members once the initial enthusiasm dies down. Since it has raised £4.6 million and is competing against much larger rivals, retaining members will matter more than the size of its funding round.
