HealthXCapital will focus on investments in digital health, diagnostics, devices, as well as artificial intelligence (AI) sectors

Singapore-based venture capital firm HealthXCapital today announced the launch of its US$25 million healthcare-focussed venture capital (VC) fund.

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.

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 will focus on investments in digital health, diagnostics, devices, as well as artificial intelligence (AI) 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.

In an email interview with e27, HealthXCapital Partner Seemant Jauhari explained the investment philosophy behind the fund.

Also Read: Entering the healthcare tech space? Three things to keep in mind

“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 modernise 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.

The partner also mentioned the qualities that the Singapore-based fund is looking for in a potential investment: It should be high on innovation and social impact, applicable to emerging Asian markets such as Southeast Asia and India, clinically validated (by the fund’s network of provider relationship), and have a proven monetisation model.

Prior to joining HealthXCapital, Jauhari was the Chief of Innovations & Research at Apollo Hospitals where he had evaluated several technologies, invested in, deployed, and incubated multiple startups.

A recent report by Frost & Sullivan revealed that the region’s healthcare system provided a US$517 billion opportunity in 2018.

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Image Credit: Piron Guillaume on Unsplash

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