Luca Health

By Sam Peters, founder of Concussed Media

THERE is a quiet, unassuming confidence about Luca Health’s co-founders Nick Greenhalgh and Vasileios Nikolaou when we meet at the uber trendy West London co-working space they share with a host of other upwardly mobile start-up companies.  

The unlikely duo, Greenhalgh a former professional rugby player and Oxford Blue with the laidback demeanour of a Hoxton hipster, Nikolaou a Greek born, London educated computer programmer and coder with a hardwired belief that tech can be a force for good in the world.

Both men are on a mission. A mission to “make sport safer for all”. And their combined enthusiasm, energy and sense of purpose is inspiring to behold.

Having first met three years ago on a business accelerator programme run by venture-capitalist fund Antler designed to identify, match and fund aspiring entrepreneurs – an experience Nick and Vas describe as ‘Love Island meets the Apprentice’ - they founded Luca Health in 2022 with the stated aim to “protect students and institutions while helping keep the sports we love safe and sustainable for years to come”.  The intent, if nothing else, is hugely commendable.

“Success in five years will be for Luca to be totally synonymous with concussion care in the UK and rapidly expanding beyond,” explains Greenhalgh, a sports mad 35year-old whose own professional rugby career came to abrupt end when a mismanaged foot injury forced him to retire aged just 21.  

“Not only will Luca elicit a positive feeling in users and clients as a company that genuinely cares about the pupils and players it supports but it will also be respected for the work it’s doing to drive Government and the National Governing Bodies to keep doing their bit in making sport as safe as possible.”

Greenhalgh’s authenticity and credibility come not just from an impressive business CV – he has an MBA from Oxford – but also his lived experience playing professionally for Northampton Saints and Exeter Chiefs, as well as at the highest amateur level with Richmond and Oxford University.

Nikolaou, - who has a BSc in Computer Science from King’s College London and has worked for a string of health tech start-ups - knew little of rugby growing up in Patras, Greece and admits ‘the idea of getting knocked out or badly hurt playing sport is completely alien to me’.

But he forged an almost immediate kinship with Greenhalgh and, having experienced and overcome severe mental health challenges himself in his 20s, shares his co-founder’s belief young athletes deserve compassion and improved safeguards when it comes to concussion care.

Their positive chemistry is evident having ‘rapidly established trust’ upon meeting for the first time on the Antler backed programme which saw them express their shared concern for mental health and athlete welfare.

“We’re very different, both in terms of personal interests as well as skills, but there’s power in that difference,” says Greenhalgh. “Vas can come at things from a first principles standpoint as he’s not lived the sport journey as I have. On the other hand, I understand some of the more subtle nuances around working with our clientele and bring a network to bare. Our relationship is built on extreme openness, nothing is ever hidden. We treat each other as humans first, co-founders second, and that’s very aligned with the impact we hope to make through Luca.”

With schools increasingly struggling to convince parents that the benefits of playing rugby outweigh the risks to undeveloped brains, there has been a notable recent move toward tech-based solutions allowing more objective assessments of patients.

The aim is to remove the ability of players to ‘cheat’ more established assessment methods such as those in the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT) and Cogsport computer test which have been widely used and, in some cases, abused in recent decades.

“SCAT is a somewhat blunt means for testing people,” said Nikolaou. “It can be very easily cheated and, in our experience, not as sensitive as it should be. Clinicians and athletes need heightened objective data to aid accurate diagnosis.”

With Luca’s extensive network of clinicians, led by recently appointed surgeon and professor of sports medicine, Bill Ribbans, who has over 40 years’ experience of working in elite sports, including rugby union with Northampton Saints and England, they are helping enhance education and assessment accuracy through referrals from the app.

According to Nikolaou it is “simply a matter of collecting the data over time” before the inbuilt AI technology will enable an accurate diagnosis through the app.

With awareness of the risks of sports-related brain injuries growing by the day, a looming legal case in the UK involving more than 1,000 former professional and amateur rugby union, league and football players, it is not surprising businesses should be looking to find commercially driven solutions to an age-old problem.

But few are creating as many waves as Luca, who are already making a name for themselves across the UK independent schools sector.

Alongside the vastly experienced Ribbans, they are also attracting some of the brightest young talent available and when I was fortunate enough to visit their office, it was notable their team includes current GB hockey star and Oxford biology graduate Fred Newbold, who runs their social media and marketing departments. While even their work experience pupils Stan Grewal, recent First XV rugby captain at Eton College who has been sidelined since last November  with concussion, Koza Kurumlu, a razor-sharp budding tech entrepreneur wise well beyond his years and Gabriel El-Gundi, a sports loving mathematician studying for his A-Levels at nearby St Paul’s School, who has already authored a paper exploring ‘the biggest challenges facing adoption of AI and machine learning in the management of sports concussion’.

“Gabriel is wise beyond his years, not just in terms of his intellect but at the centre of his character is a high degree of humility, respect and brilliant energy to care and make a difference.” said former Harlequins centre and current deputy headmaster at St Paul’s, Glenn Harrison.

The calibre of talent Luca is attracting, not to mention endorsements from high-profile backers including former England captain Courtney Lawes and director of rugby at Northampton School for Boys Phil Beaumont, is drawing interest from across the sporting world.

In February this year they sponsored an event at St Paul’s School run by  author and concussion campaigner Sam Peters and attended by leading figures in the sport including Sir Clive Woodward, Dr Barry O’Driscoll, Professor Willie Stewart and Professor Mike Loosemore of the English Institute of Sport.

The event explored, among other things, the purpose of playing sport in schools and the future of athlete welfare and concussion management.

Meanwhile, the concussion landscape is changing, fast. Innovative, if as yet largely unproven, products including smart mouthguards, wearable headbands which measure impact forces and, perhaps most promisingly, eye-tracking technology such as Luca’s, are helping provide parents, clinicians and schools with more sophisticated assessment tools.

And while neither Greenhalgh or Nikolaou profess to possess a ‘magic bullet’ – there will always be concussions as long as sport is played – but they passionately believe head injuries can be managed far better and fuller recoveries made with the use of advancements in tech.

Luca, a name with Latin origins meaning ‘bringer of light’, claims on its website to “combine cutting-edge smartphone technology, artificial intelligence, and an intuitive desktop dashboard with expert clinical oversight to provide seamless, end-to-end concussion management”.

For Greenhalgh and Nikolaou, their ambition for their business goes beyond helping schools in the UK to improve the care they offer sports loving pupils, and in doing so offer a unique selling point to parents, and extends to encouraging participation at a time when inactivity and lack of exercise are significant drains on valuable global health resources.

“Success will of course be measured commercially, but the bi-product of it will not just be greater participation but also increased confidence and reassurance in players, parents and coaches,’ says Greenhalgh.

“Sport, especially contact sport, is currently going through an uncertain period and as out-and out lovers of it, if we can do our bit to help put it back on an even keel, that will be our greatest success.

“Sport breaks down barriers and fosters resilience, confidence and humility. It not only creates unbreakable bonds but also develops character to tackle life.

“Sport must be protected and it must be prioritised. The only way to ensure both is to make it safer, and that’s where Luca comes in.”

Ends