Portuguese Sword acquires German rival Kaia for $285 million
The start-up acquired its German competitor in what is its largest deal to date, expanding its presence in the US and marking its entry into Germany.
Sword Health will acquire German competitor Kaia Health for $285 million (around €237 million), according to an announcement by its founder and CEO in an interview with Bloomberg TV. This is the largest deal to date for the Portuguese startup led by Virgílio Bento, which is thus strengthening its presence in the US and entering the German market. The ‘unicorn’ also wants to raise around $500 million in the market this quarter to leverage future acquisitions and expansion.
“In 2026, we will be very active in acquisitions. This is the first”, said Virgílio Bento on Bloomberg TV’s ‘Opening Trade’ programme, pointing to new announcements throughout the first half of the year: “We expect to announce a few more in the first half of the year. We are being more expansionist.”
With this acquisition, Sword Health will replace Kaia’s musculoskeletal solution in the United States, with Kaia members now having access to the Portuguese unicorn’s AI Care platform, according to a statement sent to newsrooms.
In addition, the New York-based company gains access to Germany’s digital health reimbursement system, which covers more than 70 million customers, according to Virgílio Bento.
Kaia Health, based in New York and Munich (Germany), is backed by investors such as Optum Ventures, Balderton Capital and Eurazeo, having raised around $125 million in a series of funding rounds through 2021.
This German company provides advanced digital solutions for the treatment of chronic and musculoskeletal pain through the MSK programme, which uses artificial intelligence-based motion tracking technology to provide real-time feedback on exercises, ensuring that users perform the movements correctly and safely — all from the convenience of their mobile device.
There is “interest” for a new round of funding
At the same time, the Portuguese start-up aims to raise around $500 million in the first quarter to finance its expansion and potential future acquisitions — an amount roughly equivalent to what Sword has raised in funding rounds to date.
“There is latent interest in the market for us to conduct a new round of financing. We had positive cash flow in 2025, while growing very quickly. It really is about the mergers and acquisitions strategy and the option for future business”, explained Sword’s CEO in an interview with the channel.
Quoted in the statement, Virgílio Bento highlights that this acquisition reinforces Sword’s mission to “democratise access to high-quality care worldwide through artificial intelligence”.
The operation announced on Wednesday comes after Sword Health signed an agreement last November for the technological management of Greece’s healthcare system, which includes national telephone screening based on artificial intelligence (AI), supervised by clinical teams.
At the time, Virgílio Bento ruled out any intention to float the company on the stock market. In an interview with Bloomberg, the CEO of the Portuguese start-up said that managing a listed company is “terribly boring”, giving priority to scaling the business using private capital.
Founded about a decade ago in Porto and currently headquartered in New York, Sword Health was valued at $4 billion in the last round of financing in 2025 and has US funds as investors, including Founders Fund (which has invested in companies such as SpaceX and Palantir), Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst.
