Crowdfunded Digital Health Investment Fund Launches

(DARPA, Wikimedia Commons)

4 November 2016. An investment fund raising its capital through crowdfunding began operations this week to back start-up enterprises developing digital health technologies. OurCrowd Qure, a project of the equity crowdfunding company OurCrowd in Jerusalem, Israel expects to raise $30 to $50 million for early-stage investments.

OurCrowd Qure is expected to finance start-up businesses in Israel and worldwide offering digital technologies in health care. The fund aims to support companies developing solutions with artificial intelligence, mobile technologies, big data, and genomics, among others. OurCrowd cites data showing the digital health market valued at $70 billion in the U.S. in 2015, and expected to grow to $230 billion by 2020.

The fund will be led by managing partners Allen Kamer and Yossi Bahagon. Kamer co-founded Humedica, a population health and analytics enterprise, later acquired by health insurance company UnitedHealth in 2013. With the acquisition, Kamer became chief commercial officer at Optum Analytics, a division of United Health. Bahagon is a family physician and entrepreneur, who founded Luminox Health, a digital health start-up acquired by OurCrowd in June 2016.

“Digital health is starting to transform our lives,” says Bahagon in an OurCrowd statement. “It is fundamentally about making medicine more personalized and comprehensive, empowering both patients and their medical teams.” Bahagon adds that, “The fund will focus on solutions that have a massive social and personal impact, while also offering highly attractive return potential over an appealing timeline.”

The fund is expected to finance start-up companies seeking seed-stage and first-round venture funding. Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures, the technology transfer arm of the Johns Hopkins University — a leading medical and research center in the U.S. — is advising OurCrowd Qure on medical technology questions affecting value validation and fast-tracking market access for investment prospects.

OurCrowd is an equity crowdfunding platform, with a community of almost 15,000 investors in more than 110 countries. Its funds invested more than $300 million in 100 portfolio companies and funds. Among its portfolio companies so far, two issued IPOs and seven were acquired.

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Hat tip: MedCity News

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