VentureBlick, a global venture platform for healthcare innovation, announces the successful closure of its first two deals, securing a total of US$2.6 million for two startups despite a challenging funding environment. This achievement is a testament of VentureBlick’s distinctive approach of engaging the global medical community to validate, support, and invest in early-stage healthcare startups.
Exceeding expectations, VentureBlick raised US$1.6 million for NousQ, a Singapore-based startup revolutionizing glue ear surgery with the world’s first smart robotic handheld device. This oversubscription, surpassing the initial target by 60%, demonstrates investors’ strong confidence in medical innovations that address real medical needs and possess a clear clinical use case. The second deal, for a China-based healthcare startup, closed at over US$1 million. Both startups were put through a three-step vetting process, which includes systematic review by medical and industry experts from respective areas across the globe, before they were listed on the platform.
Dr Lynne Lim, Founder & CEO of NousQ, expressed her enthusiasm, stating, “We are thrilled to have surpassed our fundraising target on the VentureBlick platform. This US$1.6 million bridge funding is a significant step towards our ultimate fundraising goal of US$5.5 million for our current ongoing Series A fundraise. Getting such positive responses from fellow doctors and investors around the world means a lot to our team. Equally exciting is the opportunity to tap into VentureBlick’s extensive healthcare expertise and resources.”
Building on this success, VentureBlick is evolving its business model into a ‘Super Incubator’ model, which provides an end-to-end, fully customizable solution to help build, test, and market medtech innovations, with successful exits or commercialisation as the ultimate goal.
Chris Lee, Founder & CEO of VentureBlick, emphasized the importance of this evolution, stating, “Medtech presents unique challenges and opportunities. We found that existing venture support models like incubator or accelerator programs often lack industry-specific focus or cover only certain aspects or growth stages. This leaves significant gaps, uncertainties, and risks to all stakeholders involved in a startup’s development. Super Incubator for VentureBlick is not another of those programs, but how we are going to redefine medtech venture building. What we offer medtech startups is a tailored medtech-centric ecosystem and full-slate support model to enable their innovations to reach the market in the shortest time possible and create most tangible impact.”
VentureBlick will officially launch its Super Incubator in September 2023 and is currently raising funds for the new model. The Super Incubator promises to streamline the startup journey from ideation and testing to venture building and market success. Its comprehensive offering includes product demand validation at the very beginning, fundraising, design and manufacturing, healthcare partnerships, product trial and assessment, health economics and reimbursement strategy, as well as market mapping and access.
As part of its new model, VentureBlick is also launching its medical advisory business, offering expertise in evaluating investments or M&A deals from a medical perspective on behalf of corporate ventures, VCs, or government bodies. One of the largest corporate conglomerates in the world has retained VentureBlick to assess its potential investment deals in the healthcare sector. They will tap into VentureBlick’s global advisory network, which consists of more than 1,000 advisors who have been individually screened and vetted from more than 50 countries covering over 30 specialty areas. The advisor pool will be further expanded to 3,000 by the end of 2023.
With a strong foundation established and an impressive pilot programme, VentureBlick is well-positioned to continue driving and supporting innovation in the healthcare sector with its new business model, ultimately improving healthcare outcomes worldwide.