The joint initiative will provide health startups with access to capital, industry partnerships, product and technology support along with helping them scale to new markets
NATHEALTH announced its collaboration with health-focussed innovation platform Well Technologies ( Well Tech) to support healthcare startups with access to capital and market, industry partnership, mentorship and technology development assistance. NATHEALTH, in association with Well Tech, plans to infuse seed investment of upto $ 1.5 million.
NATHEALTH and Well Tech signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for this collaboration and under the agreement, these two healthcare entities agreed for a joint initiative to scale up and serve millions of patients and customers. The joint initiative will provide health startups with access to capital, industry partnerships, product and technology support along with helping them scale to new markets. Together, the two organisations, and their partners and members, will support startups to scale up across India and globally.
“NATHEALTH and Well Tech have agreed to form a partnership to create the future of Indian healthcare through an accelerator programme that supports startups to grow and to collaborate better with the government and the industry. The initiative will be supported by our members, networks and brand. We aim to provide support to innovation through startups by leveraging Well Tech’s product and technology expertise, global network and capital partners,” said Dr Sudarshan Ballal, President, NATHEALTH.
Under the agreement, the selected startups will be offered funding opportunities ranging from $ 0.5 million-1.5 million in a year.
“Entrepreneurship and a vibrant startup eco system is an absolute necessity to compete the circle of innovation in healthcare. The NATHEALTH- Well Tech partnership is a great step in that direction and one of the several value adding initiatives of NATHEALTH to Indian and global healthcare.” said Amit Mookim, Leader, NATHEALTH Innovation and Entrepreneurship Track and Managing Director, South Asia IQVIA.
“The collaboration would go a long way to create a robust startup ecosystem for the healthcare sector and innovation would provide new momentum in terms of clinical outcomes, transparency, patient safety, supply-chain management and standardisation of population health services with the help of new technologies, “said Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Secretary-General, NATHELTH.
In the last few years there has been a rise in funding for startups in the healthcare sector making this partnership all the more crucial. According to a NATHEALTH-PWC Report, since January 2010, over 110 private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) investors have an investment in healthcare delivery space. The interest of PE and VC continues with multiple healthcare entities raised funds in 2017 as well and 2018 also witnessed investment interest in home healthcare space. VC investment in health tech startups had grown to an all-time high in 2018 with over $510 million invested across 80 startups, as per a report by Traxn Technologies. In 2016 and 2017, investments in health tech startups stood at $163 and $343 million respectively.
“Innovative new technologies and models are poised to transform how healthcare is delivered, accessed and financed in India and across the world. This is an enormous opportunity to change lives and the future of India. Together with NATHEALTH and our other partners, we’ll be selecting the best health tech startups in India and supporting them to scale up nationally and internationally. Our vision is for an innovation ecosystem and we invite stakeholders from government, industry and capital markets to join us in supporting healthcare innovators to scale up. Startups should of course apply to us directly for support.” said Jaivir Pall, Chief Financial Officer, Well Technologies.
“Well Tech is a specialist in healthcare and technology innovation. It works with startups and large organisations around the world to create and scale new healthcare products and services,” added Pall.
Under the agreement, syndicate investment from Well Tech’s capital partners as well as support due diligence of startups would go long way to create a new ecosystem. Startups would get industry support from NATHEALTH members in technology, product development, innovation and global market access. The joint initiative would also support in designing the scale plan for other markets and facilitating new partnerships. The initiative aims to cater to early and growth stage startups and is looking to scale up across diverse categories within the domain.