Countries struggling to fund quality health services could benefit from startups that receive investment from General Electric’s GE Healthcare.
The company is putting US$50 million into a small business fund using its first healthcare programme, known as five.eight, which aims to improve clinical diagnoses and treatment, as well as scale up health services in developing countries. Each startup stands to receive US$5 million on condition of a case-by-case evaluation as GE Healthcare decides which business to develop further.
John Flannery, president and CEO of GE Healthcare, said 5.8 billion people worldwide lack access to quality, affordable healthcare.
“Through five.eight, our goal is to fuel the greater global health ecosystem, partnering with social impact investors and global health startups, in order to maximise impact and outcomes for populations with the greatest need,” he said.
Five.eight operates out of India and partners with social impact investors and health startups to assist companies working in areas that lack the most basic healthcare infrastructure, or where disease continues to stunt economic growth.
The first startup to join the programme is Tricog, a Bangalore-based tech firm whose goal is to reduce the time it takes to diagnose and treat heart attack patients in India. By joining five.eight, Tricog could use the capital put up by GE Healthcare to scale its business to markets beyond its country of origin.
According to Ashwani Mehta, a cardiologist based in Delhi, heart attacks claim a life every 33 seconds in India, amounting to around two million cases each year, most of which are due to the dietary and exercise habits of people living in cities, as well as prohibitively lengthy waiting times at Indian clinics.
Small businesses that take on the investment will have their services integrated into GE Healthcare’s Affordable Care Portfolio, which means GE Healthcare effectively owns those services. GE Healthcare’s Sustainable Healthcare Solutions meanwhile helps to achieve the maximum outreach of its high-value, low-cost technologies and healthcare delivery solutions to emerging markets.
Terri Bresenham, president and CEO of GE Healthcare’s Affordable Care Portfolio, said: “Collaborating with investors allows us to work with some extraordinary entrepreneurs that have promising technologies to extend our portfolio of affordable solutions.”
Portfolio companies from four impact investors, including Acumen, Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group, Unitus Seed Fund, and Villgro, are among the initial applicants for five.eight.