Health tech today looks very different from the traditional image of hospitals and clinics.
From femtech apps and digital pharmacies to mental health platforms and wellness brands, modern health and wellness startups are built around fast-moving, distributed teams. Remote engineers, hybrid product teams, clinical advisors, operations staff and customer support all need reliable, secure technology to do their jobs.
But when you’re scaling quickly, managing devices can become expensive, messy and time-consuming.
That’s why many health tech startups are rethinking how they source and manage their technology — moving away from buying devices outright, and towards more flexible leasing and management models.
What “HealthTech” Really Means Today
When we talk about health tech in this context, we’re not just talking about doctors and hospitals.
Health tech includes:
Health & wellness apps
Femtech platforms
Digital pharmacies and online services
Mental health and wellbeing startups
Preventative care and lifestyle technology companies
Many of these businesses operate in regulated environments, handle sensitive personal data, and work with globally distributed teams. Even if you’re not providing care firsthand, users, partners and investors still expect a high standard of security, reliability and professionalism.
That makes the way you manage technology far more strategic than it might be in other sectors.
The Tech Challenges Health & Wellness Startups Face
Growth should be exciting, but it often brings hidden operational headaches.
Scaling Teams Faster Than IT Can Keep Up
Health and wellness startups rarely grow in a straight line. One funding round, a big launch, or an expansion into a new market can suddenly mean hiring several people at once. And when those new joiners start, they need laptops, phones and accessories straight away, not weeks down the line.
When devices are bought as and when needed, things can quickly get messy. Different setups, delayed deliveries, and last‑minute scrambles to get people equipped become the norm.
Before long, IT is constantly firefighting instead of supporting growth, which slows onboarding and frustrates teams just when things should be moving fast.
Managing Costs Without Draining Your Budget
Buying devices outright can seem like the easiest option at first, but it doesn’t take long for the costs to mount up. Laptops, phones, accessories, and the inevitable replacements, can eat into your budget, especially in the early stages or when you’re gearing up for your next funding round.
For health and wellness startups that need to keep a close eye on spending, locking money into hardware that quickly loses value isn’t always ideal. A more flexible approach spreads costs over time, makes budgeting easier, and still gives your team the reliable tech they need to do their best work.
Explore why leasing devices beats buying outright anyday.
Securing a Hybrid or Remote Workforce
A lot of health tech and wellness startups now work with hybrid or fully remote teams. That flexibility is a huge plus but it also means device security and management can quickly become harder to stay on top of.
When your team is spread across different locations, keeping laptops and phones secure, properly updated and consistently managed isn’t always easy. Lost devices, missed updates or uneven security settings can slip through the cracks, and when you’re dealing with sensitive user data, those small gaps can turn into bigger risks than expected.
Supporting Different Roles With Different Needs
In most health tech startups, one size definitely doesn’t fit all when it comes to tech.
Developers may need powerful laptops to handle heavy workloads, while operations or customer support teams just need something lightweight and dependable. Product teams, clinical advisors and leadership often sit somewhere in between — each with their own set of requirements.
Without a flexible setup, it’s easy to end up spending too much on devices some roles don’t really need, while others don’t get the tools that help them do their job properly. Being able to match devices to roles keeps everyone well equipped, without wasting budget or making compromises.
Learn how you can customise devices easily with Devices for Teams.
Preparing for Enterprise or Regulated Partnerships
As health and wellness startups grow, the bar tends to rise. Working with enterprise customers, healthcare organisations or regulated partners often means being looked at more closely, especially when it comes to security, device standards and how things are managed day to day.
Tech that once “did the job” might suddenly fall short. Having a more structured approach to device management helps startups show they’re organised, reliable and ready to scale. It also means you can move into these higher‑expectation partnerships smoothly, without having to overhaul everything later on.
Common Tech Leasing Options for HealthTech Startups
There are a few different ways health tech startups typically approach device procurement but not all of them support long-term growth.
Buying Devices Outright
This gives full ownership, but ties up capital, creates depreciation risk and makes upgrades painful as teams grow or change.
Traditional Leasing or Finance
Often cheaper upfront than buying, but usually rigid. Contracts can be inflexible when headcount changes — something most startups can’t predict accurately.
Short-Term Rentals
Useful for short projects or contractors, but rarely cost-effective or scalable for full-time teams.
Device as a Service (DaaS)
A newer, more flexible approach that bundles devices, setup, support and lifecycle management into a single monthly cost, designed specifically for distributed businesses.
Why Device as a Service Works So Well for HealthTech Teams
For health and wellness startups, Device as a Service aligns far better with the realities of growth.
With a managed DaaS model, teams get:
Predictable monthly costs instead of large upfront purchases
Quick onboarding and offboarding for joiners and leavers
Centralised control across hybrid and remote teams
Always-modern hardware without manual refresh cycles
Security and consistency built into the device lifecycle
Rather than managing devices reactively, founders and ops teams can treat technology as a scalable service that grows with the business.
This approach sits at the heart of structured health tech device management, where devices are no longer individual assets but part of a wider operational strategy.
How Leading HealthTech Teams Manage Their Devices
Many high-growth health tech companies already use the DaaS model to support their teams.
Supporting Global Hybrid Teams at Flo
Flo (Here We Flo) was growing quickly, increasing headcount by around 50% in a year, with a hybrid team that relied entirely on laptops to get work done. As new starters joined, buying MacBooks outright started to feel inefficient, both in terms of cost and the time spent manually setting machines up and fixing issues when things went wrong.
By switching to leasing and managed services, Flo was able to standardise devices, make sure every laptop arrived securely pre‑configured, and avoid the disruption caused by damaged or faulty equipment. When a laptop was accidentally damaged, a replacement was delivered within 24 hours, meaning no one was left unable to work.
Scaling Securely at MedExpress
MedExpress grew from around 100 to over 1,000 employees, most of them working remotely, without building a large internal IT team. With frequent joiners and leavers, managing devices manually would have required several full‑time staff just to keep up.
Instead, MedExpress relied on a combination of device leasing and our Boomerang service to handle collection, redeployment and preparation of devices. Laptops are automatically retrieved from leavers, securely wiped, reconfigured and sent back out to new starters, often many times a week.
These aren’t one‑off success stories. They’re real examples of how growing health and wellness companies manage devices in a practical, scalable way — keeping teams productive, maintaining security, and avoiding tech becoming a bottleneck as the business grows.
What to Look for in a HealthTech Tech Leasing Partner
Not all leasing providers understand the realities of health and wellness startups.
When choosing a partner, look for:
Experience working with health, wellness and regulated businesses
Support for hybrid and remote teams
Choice across Apple, Windows and mobile devices
End-to-end device lifecycle management
Fast UK delivery and responsive support
The right provider won’t just supply hardware — they’ll remove friction from your day-to-day operations.
Find out about the real-world impact of Device as a Service.
When Should a HealthTech Startup Switch to Managed Leasing?
Many startups make the move when:
Hiring becomes more frequent or international
Managing devices starts consuming valuable time
Security and consistency become business risks rather than IT issues
If technology is becoming a blocker instead of an enabler, it’s usually time to rethink your approach.
Scaling a HealthTech Startup? Start With Smarter Devices
Whether you’re building a wellness app or a digital health service, your team’s tech needs to work — every single day.
Devices for Teams makes it simpler to lease, manage and support devices as you scale. From onboarding new starters to handling replacements, upgrades and security, we take care of the day‑to‑day details so your team can stay focused on building and growing the business.
Security is a big part of that. We’re ISO 27001 certified, which means our processes meet internationally recognised standards for information security.
If you’re looking for a simpler, more predictable way to manage devices across hybrid or remote teams, Devices for Teams is built for fast‑growing health tech businesses.
👉 See how Devices for Teams helps health tech startups scale.
Steve Hill has been a cornerstone of HardSoft since 2005, bringing two decades of experience in leasing Apple devices and delivering tailored tech solutions to businesses across the UK. As HardSoft’s go-to expert in cybersecurity, Steve specialises in Sophos and Barracuda software, helping clients safeguard their operations with confidence. Steve’s passion for tech, teamwork, and trusted solutions makes him a valued voice on the HardSoft blog.
LinkedIn: Steve Hill
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 0204 566 8856