Bupa Ventures to invest $20m to accelerate healthcare innovations
Bupa today announced the launch of a new $20 million Bupa Ventures Fund to support and invest in start-ups that are focused on developing innovative models of healthcare that enable better health outcomes.
Bupa Ventures has been set up to support the early funding rounds of start-ups who are at the Seed – Series A stage of development. This exciting new Fund will allow Bupa to find, invest and partner with start-ups at the forefront of technology and market trends to support the company’s ambition to become the most customer-centric healthcare company in the world.
While Bupa Ventures will look to support start-ups working across a broad spectrum of healthcare areas; early focus areas include predictive and preventative healthcare, genomics, home care and remote monitoring, with the objective of making healthcare more personal and less fragmented.
Bupa APAC CEO, Nick Stone, said start-ups will play a critical role in the future of healthcare and we want to accelerate healthcare innovations that makes a difference to our customers and the wider community.
“Start-ups are agile and move quickly to solve problems that meet customer needs, supported by new technologies and design,” Mr Stone said.
Start-ups are agile and move quickly to solve problems that meet customer needs, supported by new technologies and design.
“We know we need to do more to modernise healthcare, we all have a role to play in delivering healthcare that is more personalised and less fragmented which places the patient at the centre,” he added.
Mr Stone said: “Bupa Ventures is the natural next step in expanding Bupa’s innovation agenda.
“Our teams across Bupa APAC are already working hand-in-hand with innovative start-ups to help us achieve our sustainability goals through our eco-Disruptive program; while simultaneously we have been growing our skills in artificial intelligence through hackathons and in-house learning academies.
“We plan to give start-ups supported by Bupa Ventures working access to Bupa teams and resources so they can expand their offering into Bupa’s global customer-base which extends across five continents.
Mr Stone encouraged interested start-ups to apply via the Bupa Ventures website. Bupa will also be actively scouting for suitable start-up investment opportunities.
