Singapore-based venture capital firm HealthXCapital today announced the launch of its US$25 million digital health venture capital (VC) fund focused on emerging markets in South East Asia and India. The fund was backed by Apollo Hospitals, Jungle Ventures, Eight Roads Ventures (the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity International Limited), and other undisclosed private investors.
HealthXCapital will focus on addressing:
Access & Affordability — by investing in innovative healthcare startups which help leapfrog existing solutions.
Applicability — by bringing forth a curated network of clinical partners across SE Asia such as Apollo Hospitals who can work deeply with our investments.
Commercialization — by jumpstarting reach in Asia through our strategic partners in insurance, medtech & provider sectors
It aims to fuel healthcare innovation in emerging economies in Asia, such as South Asia and Southeast Asia, and meet the rising healthcare demands in the markets. HealthXCapital fund will focus on investments in:
– Digital health solutions
– Point-of-Care Diagnostics/Devices
– Home Health Solutions
– Preventive Health Solutions
– Biomarkers
– Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning Sectors
Expecting to invest in 10 to 12 early stage startups, the fund already made investments in Singapore-based on-demand healthcare service platform Homage, US-based smartphone-based care diagnostics platform JanaCare, and India-based neo-natal ICUs integrated analytics solution provider iNICU.
“Asia faces significant healthcare challenges such as underdeveloped infrastructure, affordability of treatments, lack of proactive healthcare and opaque data management amongst others. Traditional models have not been able to keep pace with the scale and scope of challenges evolving,” he said.
“Around the world, technology is helping healthcare leapfrog the status quo and drive efficiency and improve patient outcomes. Our aim at HealthXCapital is to help modernize a sector which has long been ripe for disruption. We want to grow the best domestic and global healthcare technologies by helping them rapidly scale across emerging Asian markets,” he added.
