Bupa has unveiled a $20 million Ventures Fund that will support and invest in start-ups that are focused on developing innovative healthcare models.
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. With the program, Bupa will find, invest, and partner with selected healthcare start-ups as part of the company’s efforts 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, attention will be paid to start-ups in early focus areas including predictive and preventative healthcare, genomics, home care and remote monitoring, with the objective of making healthcare more personal less fragmented.
Bupa APAC CEO, Nick Stone, said that start-ups will play a critical role in the future of healthcare and accelerating healthcare innovations with the help of the fund will make a significant difference to customers and the wider community, pointing out that start-ups are agile and move quickly to solve problems that meet customer needs, supported by new technologies and design.
“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,” Stone said.
“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,” Stone added.
Interested start-ups are encouraged to apply via the Bupa Ventures website. Bupa will also be actively scouting for suitable start-up investment opportunities.
