angelMD, a private equity firm has launched a unique private equity firm leveraging a crowdfunding platform to effectively match physician investors with leading medical startups from all over the world.According to the announcement, angelMD plans to transform the funding ecosystem for medical startups by removing the inefficiencies of the current venture capital funding model while addressing the specific needs of early stage businesses in the healthcare and life-sciences technologies.
“Physicians are Smart Money”
The private equity firm empowers physicians to exercise leadership as sources of both expertise and capital in support of healthcare innovation. angelMD features startups focused on:
- health IT
- medical device
- genetics
- pharma/therapeutics
“Physicians are the smart money when it comes to investing in medical startups. They are on the front lines of healthcare delivery and when they invest in what they know, their batting average goes up,” said Tobin Arthur, angelMD Chief Executive Officer.
How It Works
Physicians can register on angelMD at no cost and browse companies in their areas of expertise and interest. Select companies will be presented for investment each month. Physicians can invest directly in deals or through forthcoming funds or through both.
Startups are matched to member’s areas of expertise and interest enabling them to make educated investment decisions. They can also contribute to successful outcomes by offering advice, strategic introductions and more.
Through the angelMD crowdfunding portal and companion iPhone app, medical startups from all over the world can register and build a profile for their company, giving them instant exposure to a nationwide network of physicians.
Startups approved to be funded on angelMD can raise their seed capital in less than 60 days in most cases…with minimal travel.
“While early stage investing has some of the best potential returns, many physicians are reluctant to engage because they lack the time to actively source and manage these opportunities. In addition, as individual angel investors they hold little influence in the lifecycle of the investment. angelMD mitigates these issues by actively managing early stage investing on behalf of our physician investors and by aggregating our investors into groups that carry weight throughout the process,” adds Klaus Mergener, MD, PhD, angelMD Chief Medical Officer.