Dive Brief:
- Babylon’s David Humphreys moved up the financial ladder to take the CFO seat, the company announced Aug. 23. Humphreys has been at the digital healthcare company for two years in the role of finance director.
- Humphreys will succeed Charlie Steel, who oversaw the scaling of the company including over $1 billion in fundraising and its listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Steel decided to leave his position of five years in order to pursue other opportunities, the company said.
- Shares of Babylon, which connects patients and doctors via an app, were recently halted due to speculation that it was in talks related to a take-private transaction, according to Seeking Alpha. The company denied these rumors, stating that they have not “engaged in nor had contact with any potential acquirer.”
Dive Insight:
Humphreys has experience in the initial public offering (IPO) space as well as global accounting and financial digital transformation, according to his LinkedIn account. Before joining UK-based Babylon in 2020, Humphreys was a senior partner at PwC, where he worked with both private and public clients including Tesla and Facebook and provided U.S. IPO and GAAP consulting and auditing services.
“I look forward to bringing my extensive experience of U.S. capital markets and providing financial strategic insights to boards of innovative growth companies to my role as CFO of Babylon,” said Humphreys in a statement.
The company reported second quarter revenue of $265.4 million compared to $57.5 million for the same period last year and cited growth in its value-based care (VBC) revenue on the company’s Aug. 9 earnings call.
After going public in June of 2021 via a merger with Alkuri Global Acquisition Corp.,a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Babylon was valued at $4.2 billion. Since then, its shares have fallen about 90%, resulting in a market valuation of just $287 million, according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg reported on Aug.15 that owners were considering taking the company private less than a year after its IPO, sourcing individuals close to the matter. However, Babylon responded by saying that no such deal was in the works.
