Sword Health buys Kaia Health for $285M to enter Germany's digital care market

Sword Health agreed to buy Kaia Health in a deal valued at $285M, combining two digital musculoskeletal and pulmonary care providers and extending Sword's reach to an estimated 100 million people. Kaia operates inside Germany's digital health reimbursement system, which covers more than 70 million people, giving Sword its largest European foothold to date. In the US, Sword will replace Kaia's MSK product with its own and keep Kaia's employer and health plan relationships. Sword has broadened from physical therapy into women's and mental health and markets itself as an AI-first care platform. Crunchbase counted the Kaia purchase among the five largest AI startup acquisitions by other venture-backed companies in 2026. For builders in healthcare AI, the deal shows regulatory and reimbursement access can be worth more than technology. Getting into a national payer pathway is slow, so buying a company already approved is often the faster route to a new market.