(Editor’s note: Thank you bio-med insider Andrew Steen for giving Dispatches this heads-up about StartUp Health moving big-time into Finland with a new startup building effort. This was originally posted on LinkedIn.)
It was bound to happen sooner or later … a mashup of American money and Finnish health tech innovators.
Startup Health Finland is billed as a “first of its kind partnership” with the Finnish government in an attempt to create a new model connecting Finnish expertise with U.S.-based investors.
StartUp Health Finland will support Finland’s emerging ecosystem of digital health entrepreneurs, “integrating them directly into StartUp Health’s global platform to provide ongoing access to investors, expertise and commercialization opportunities around the world.”
StartUp Health Finland will accept five Finnish digital health startups to the StartUp Health Academy, according to its website.
StartUp Health Academy is a long-term entrepreneurial coaching program and community designed to scale and grow early stage health tech companies.
The multi-year program includes:
- Direct access to StartUp Health’s global platform including StartUp Health Academy, StartUp Health Network and Healthcare Transformer peer community
- Ongoing coaching and mentoring in Finland and the U.S.
- Market access to key US and global healthcare stakeholders including StartUp Health’s global network of 30,000 investors, customers and experts
- A collaborative network that includes Team Finland Health and Finpro infrastructure
- Co-working space in the Health Innovation Village at GE
- A pathway for startups from around the globe to leverage Finland as a world-class test bed for digital health innovation
Based in New York City, StartUp Health claims the world’s largest portfolio of digital health companies – more than 105, from 11 countries and 50 cities. StartUp Health is back by Foundry Group Managing Director Brad Feld, Swanhill Capital and about 70 other backers, according to AngelList.
StartUp Health Finland will co-locate in the Health Innovation Village at GE in Helsinki’s ‘Silicon’ Vallila district, according to a news release. There, they’ll host regular programming and community events for entrepreneurs, innovators and healthcare transformers.
So, this is just that much more momentum for Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric’s Health Innovation Village, which just opened last year. There are at least 20 health tech startups there, working in wireless technologies, sensors, apps and cloud services. That effort looks like it focuses mostly on using technology for monitoring … everything from collecting data on how premature babies are doing to analyzing patients via more sophisticated fitness trackers.
You can see a YouTube video here of Team Finland Health Program Director Eerr Toivainen talking about the digital health landscape in Finland.
Here’s more background from the StartUp Health website:
What We Do
StartUp Health is on a mission to help 1,000 health startups to reimagine and transform healthcare over the next decade. We believe entrepreneurs have the collective power to build the future of healthcare and we enable them to develop the leadership, relationships and industry intelligence to succeed.
StartUp Health was founded by health tech entrepreneurs, Steven Krein and Unity Stoakes, and is chaired by former Time Warner Chairman and CEO, Jerry Levin. Some investors include Steve Case, Mark Cuban, Esther Dyson, Roger Ehrenberg, Brad Feld, Richard Forman, Jason Finger, Linda Holliday, Andy Litt, Jon Miller and Wayne Kimmel. Learn more about the Academy at startuphealth.com/academy.
