Bupa Ventures has announced the launch of its new Bupa Ventures Fund, with a total of $20 million in funding available for start-ups focusing on innovative models of healthcare across a variety of areas and early focuses including predictive and preventative healthcare, genomics, home care, and remote monitoring.
Designed to support early funding rounds of start-ups in the Seed – Series A stage of development, it is hoped that the new fund will allow Bupa to identify, invest in and partner with start-ups “at the forefront of technology and market trends”, in order to support Bupa’s ambitions of becoming “the most customer-centric healthcare company in the world”.
Nick Stone, CEO for Bupa, has called the fund the “natural next step in expanding Bupa’s innovation agenda”, with Bupa’s website sharing that the objective of the fund is to decrease fragmentation in healthcare and make it more personal.
He added: “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. We plan to give start-ups supported by Bupa Ventures working access to Bupa teams and resources so they can expand their offering into Bupa’s global customer-base which extends across five continents.”
Bupa will be actively seeking opportunities for start-up investments, or interested start-ups can apply directly through the Bupa Ventures website.
In other funding news, £7.5 million in grant funding has been made available from Innovate UK for Scottish innovators and science collaborators looking to link up and support the development of new tools, data sets and “approaches that enhance regulatory decision making”, with InnoScot Health encouraging organisations to apply for funding of up to £50,000.
Elsewhere, a new round of funding has been announced in a competition for innovations as part of the NHS Cancer programme to support cancer treatment and care, with focus on early detection and diagnosis.
