Healthwords was created by Clinova, a UK-based consumer health and technology company dedicated to self-care solutions. Clinova was founded by British inventors and entrepreneurs Arsalan Karim and Charles Ebubedike, who first had the idea of founding Clinova when they were aged just 18 and 19. Having met in their first week at university, the duo soon became housemates.

Professor Ivor Ebenezer encouraged Arsalan and Charles to explore how new technologies would soon upend traditional consumer health and wellness markets. He said that as access to technology expanded, people would become more aware of what things are good or bad for their health and wellness. With this increase in awareness, millions of people would be eager to take a more active role in their health. The pair began developing technology-based solutions to common medicine and health information problems. Arsalan and Charles founded Clinova with one question in mind: