“The digitally enabled transformation of healthcare across the globe is happening at a phenomenal pace, accelerated by COVID19 and the resulting focus on data and technologies for advanced individual and population health. We see this as providing significant opportunity for a specialist fund and specialist team focussed on digital health investment,” said Dr Schaper.
“In 2020, digital health start-ups in the USA attracted a record US$14 billion of investment capital, in the largest funding year on record. Australia is rich with brilliant innovators and yet funding is only starting to see traction. Healthcare Ventures aims to rectify that.”
Launching the fund, Allen said “I have been working with and invested in a number of talented health professionals and am seeing continuous deal-flow of innovations coming from the medical community. This shouldn’t come as a great surprise given our best and brightest have been going into medicine but what has changed is a strong entrepreneurship mindset and the ability to transform practises through digitisation. I believe the best way to handle this dealflow is to have a dedicated team and specialist fund led by health professionals supported by strong investment and technical capabilities. The fund will be a relatively small fund and will seek to partner and co invest with many more generalised VC funds both in Australia and overseas.
Focussing on technology, Healthcare Ventures will pay close attention to innovations in fields such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality/virtual reality, large scale data, advanced diagnostics, health IOT and telehealth,” said Allen.
“We acknowledge that investing in healthcare is challenging, as you need to have intimate knowledge of workplace practises and that means being able to both understand and navigate the many nuanced challenges these health professionals face every day,” said Darren Heathcote. “We took great care, over a considerable amount of time, to build a partnership and advisory board that would provide us with the necessary expertise, such that today, we have a dedicated, specialist team of medical and digital health led professionals and investment experts, able to assist our portfolio companies to execute on the opportunities,” said Heathcote.
“Healthcare Ventures aim to commercialise innovation from the health sector, advance the growth of local industry and the export of Australian innovation and entrepreneurship to the world. Worldwide, we see in increasing demand for digital transformation in healthcare. Australia’s technical expertise has long established itself as an influential and effective provider of innovative solutions for many sectors and we believe Australia’s reputation for high standards and rigorous regulatory oversight sets us apart,” said Dr Schaper.
Healthcare Ventures’ initial raising activities have already attracted attention from investors globally.
The fund first closing is expected in the first half of 2021.
View source version on businesswire.com:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210207005001/en/ContactFor further comments or information please contact Darren Heathcote, Managing Partner, Healthcare Ventures on +61 418 256 951 e:
darren@healthcareventures.vcSource : Healthcare Ventures
--BERNAMA
