Future Health Asia, a HealthTech angel investment group, and Brinc, a global venture accelerator firm, announce today the launch of a Singapore & Hong Kong cross-border accelerator program to invest in startups developing MedTech and HealthTech solutions for the Asian market. The program aims to support Seed to Series A stage startups, focusing on an industry that will require additional attention in a post-COVID era.
The program will support startups that either have a significant customer base in Asia or aspire to enter the Asian market. Startups accepted into the 3-month accelerator program will receive a cash investment of up to USD $250,000 and will be provided with a custom-designed curriculum to help them navigate specific points of failure in the industry and reach critical developmental milestones. Accepted teams will also have access to Brinc and Future Health Asia’s growing network of partners in the healthcare space — supporting a significant program objective will be to help them explore and secure commercial opportunities with hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and other healthcare providers across APAC. Furthermore, participating startups will benefit from Brinc’s global network of late-stage investors and will also receive a startup perks package valued at over USD $250,000.
Brinc’s partnership with Future Health Asia will bolster the value that is provided to selected MedTech startups through the integration of both their networks, expertise and jointly created educational content. Several mentors have already committed to mentoring teams:
- Dr Jeremy Lim, who advises regional and global health and development agencies including the World Health Organisation, Asian Development and World Bank.
- Dr Joseph Mocanu, Founder and Managing Partner of Verge HealthTech Fund, previously a scientist that developed cancer therapies.
- Aleem Jivraj, Co-founder of Future Health and senior financial professional and philanthropist, who co-chairs EMpower Asia and advises other NGOs in the region.
- Aga Manhao, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Future Health, HealthTech executive with APAC experience in launching, scaling and listing startups in Singapore and Australia.
- Kun Jiang, founder and CEO of BioMark, who recently exited through a trade sale of her HealthTech business.
Post-program, Brinc will continue to support startup growth through business development and capital raising guidance, and help establish a connection to the growing Brinc family of founders for shared learnings as teams navigate similar challenges of development. Startups that demonstrate traction will also have the opportunity to receive follow-on investments from Future Health and from Brinc’s global network of co-investors.
“As we see thirteen of our companies pivot or step up to develop or change direction to support a changed world post COVID we are reminded that human wellbeing is just as important as economic growth. We are reminded that geographically distant countries can & have to come together under a common understanding that there is much more to government policy than GDP. Major countries like Singapore, UAE, China find that they have to put geopolitics, policies and financial planning aside when it comes to human health and medical technologies. We are encouraged in a post COVID world to continue to back game changing founders from around the world through a Singapore HQ’ed accelerator program that will help us all develop the tools, technologies and processes to develop more inclusive and sustainable advanced healthcare systems” said Manav Gupta, CEO of Brinc.
Headquartered in Singapore, Future Health is a HealthTech angel investment group, with an established network of hand-picked investors with unparalleled global experience in finance, technology, healthcare and investments. The team is led by Aga Manhao, the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Future Health. Aga is a Senior Finance and Technology Executive with a strong track record in global complex healthcare environments. As the founding CEO of HomeStay Care, a HealthTech IoT platform for the elderly, Aga guided the company in the development of an MVP and set out to validate the solution through pilots in Australia and Singapore. He eventually led efforts to list the company on the Australian Stock Exchange.
“Aleem and I are extremely excited about this partnership. We believe it is vital to be able to support startups to allow them to launch and scale. Investment money in only a small part of making a startup successful. By providing founders and their teams with industry mentors and access to senior business leaders and their networks, we hope we can help startups address making healthcare affordable and accessible to everyone.” said Aga Manhao, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Future Health.
Underlying factors for the MedTech transformation have become increasingly evident throughout the past few years. The global pandemic has further emphasised the need for urgency. The year 2020 tested the industry as demand surged for personal protective equipment, ventilators, diagnostic tests and other critical supplies while at the same time, the global dependency on frontline healthcare workers was highlighted.
There is no doubt that the MedTech industry will be reshaped in a post-COVID world as companies embrace flexible work arrangements, look into remote monitoring to increase patient access to care, and start moving towards digital health overall. The industry now has a chance to address its limitations and better position itself for the future.
Future Health Asia looks at opportunities across the entire healthcare value chain, specifically focusing on MedTech and HealthTech categories such as education, virtual primary care, chronic disease management, screening, research, consumer healthcare & wellness and more.
We announced our launch at FutureHealth member’s meeting on January 21st, 2021 with one of our teams also taking the stage to pitch to a group of 20+ investors
Brinc is not new to this space with a portfolio of over 20 companies in HealthTech and MedTech, further highlighting their commitment to drive a meaningful change to global healthcare through this new venture. On average, Brinc portfolio teams raise USD $1.1M+ post-program through notable institutional investors and angels. Notable portfolio companies within their MedTech portfolio include Z Imaging, Aether Biomedical, CRIAM and Frontier Bio.
Jetbrain Robotics, one of Brinc’s MedTech startups that went through the Fall 2018 Hardware & IoT accelerator program, was acquired in August of 2020 by Solaris, a leader in IoT connected service robots in the healthcare industry.
To learn more about Brinc’s role in the company’s success, read the following post by Ajay:
Together, Brinc & Future Health aim to identify the solutions that are perfectly suited to support the innovation that is required to transition this industry into an advanced and connected healthcare ecosystem.
Applications are now open for Brinc’s Spring MedTech Accelerator Program. Apply now!
Future Health Asia
Future Health’s angel investment group identifies early-stage healthtech companies based in Asia or companies looking to expand their business into the region. The group facilitates the growth and development of its portfolio companies by making introductions to its extensive global network, assisting in business development, strategic planning, and mentoring. Future Health plays a leading role in building the healthtech ecosystem by organising events and seminars and establishing cross border healthtech relationships with like minded groups and associations. Future Health is based in Singapore as the leading location in Asia for entrepreneurial startups, given its stability, modern infrastructure, and support for innovation. The group has been contributing to the growth of Singapore and Asia overall by spurring economic growth through developing new healthcare innovation and creating new employment opportunities. Learn more at: www.futurehealth.asia/
Brinc
Brinc is a different breed of venture capital and accelerator platform. Core to their business is the belief that some of the world’s biggest challenges can be solved by entrepreneurs, who they like to call GAME CHANGERS. Brinc believes that deep technology focused startups can fundamentally change how we move, what we eat, how we feel and where we live for the better if they are given the right backing. That’s what Brinc believes they are here for. To support and mentor founders and their teams from across the world and provide investment to help them grow. Brinc currently operates twelve multi-disciplinary accelerator programs across six countries and has made 140+ investments. Learn more at www.brinc.io.
