{"id":2916,"date":"2014-04-08T12:35:56","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T19:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/?p=2916"},"modified":"2014-08-25T12:36:34","modified_gmt":"2014-08-25T19:36:34","slug":"unitus-seed-fund-is-doubling-down-on-healthcare-investments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/updates\/unitus-seed-fund-is-doubling-down-on-healthcare-investments\/","title":{"rendered":"Unitus Seed Fund is doubling-down on healthcare investments"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In conjunction with the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/usf.vc\/seed-smilemerchants\">announcement of our third India healthcare seed funding investment<\/a>\u00a0in the past 100 days, we are announcing our intention to invest in\u00a0<i>another<\/i>\u00a03-4 healthcare startups in 2014. We are also pleased to announce that\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/usf.vc\/mfree\">Dr. Michael J. Free<\/a>\u00a0OBE, Ph. D., \u00a0a globally-recognized global health expert and 35-year technology leader at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.path.org\/leadership\/michael-free.php\">PATH<\/a>, is joining Unitus Seed Fund as Special Advisor for Healthcare.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1740\" title=\"The Economic Times logo\" src=\"http:\/\/usf.vc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/the-economic-times-200x50.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"25\" \/><\/td>\n<td class=\"lessLineHeight\"><a href=\"http:\/\/usf.vc\/et-seed-smile-merchants\" target=\"_blank\">Unitus Seed invests in Smile Merchants<\/a><\/td>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1740\" title=\"HUff Post logo\" src=\"http:\/\/usf.vc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/the-huffington-post-logo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\" \/><\/td>\n<td class=\"lessLineHeight\"><a href=\"http:\/\/usf.vc\/hp-seed-smile-merchants\" target=\"_blank\">Investing in Private Health Care for All in India<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/usf.vc\/tc-seed-commerzpoint\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><b>Healthcare is a huge a growing sector in India<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-5504\" src=\"http:\/\/usf.vc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/2014-Smile-Merchants-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"2014 Smile Merchants\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" \/>The nearly INR 60 lakh crore (USD 100 billion) healthcare sector in India is growing at an estimated\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com\/2013-12-02\/news\/44657410_1_healthcare-sector-healthcare-delivery-fortis\">15% per year<\/a>, with an estimated 80% of spending controlled by private individuals and primarily out of pocket, rather than government or insurance plans. Yet, the majority of this expenditure is occurring in the large metros and focused on the wealthiest 10-15% of the population. Healthcare is largely inaccessible to the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/usf.vc\/bop\">1 billion people living at the base of the economic pyramid in India<\/a>\u00a0due to affordability and proximity. Rural India pays even more for healthcare when you factor in the lost wages and travel costs to reach even a low-quality medical facility.<\/p>\n<h2><b>Doubling down on India healthcare seed investments<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>In the past few months, Unitus Seed Fund has invested in:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/usf.vc\/seed-welcare\">Welcare<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 affordable eye screening to prevent blindness<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/usf.vc\/seed-commerzpoint\">Medypal<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 online healthcare marketplace<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/usf.vc\/seed-smile-merchants\">Smile Merchants<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 affordable dental clinic chain outside big metros<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Based on the pipeline of quality entrepreneurs we\u2019re seeing, we have set a goal to invest in at least 3 additional healthcare startups this year. Areas we are most bullish about include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Distributed specialty clinics addressing pressing needs healthcare access of rural populations;<\/li>\n<li>Technology-enabled disruptions, bringing higher-quality care to under-served populations without requiring the presence of trained personnel;<\/li>\n<li>Mobile based healthcare delivery \u2013 high levels of internet and mobile penetration driving m-health initiatives;<\/li>\n<li>Ultra-low-cost devices that can assist consumers in wellness management and trained professionals in delivery of services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Read more about our\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/usf.vc\/sectors\/healthcare\">analysis of opportunities in healthcare &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><b>Expert in global health technologies joins as special advisor<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.path.org\/leadership\/images\/leader-free-1013.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"210\" \/>Dr. Michael J. Free OBE, Ph. D. is joining Unitus Seed Fund as a Special Advisor for Healthcare to help with evaluating healthcare startup investments and to advise Unitus Seed Fund\u2019s healthcare portfolio companies. Dr. Free recently retired as Vice President and Senior Advisor for Technologies at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/path.org\/\">PATH<\/a>, a leading global healthcare organization driving transformative innovations to save lives. Dr. Free was instrumental in founding PATH 35 years ago and has been the global program leader for Technology Solutions where he led assessment of need, technology development and transfer, global introduction, development of international standards, and policy development.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/usf.vc\/mfree\">Read more about Dr. Michael Free &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs I\u2019ve been informally advising Unitus Seed Fund for the past few months, I\u2019ve become truly excited about how they are investing smartly in high potential healthcare startups seeking to deliver affordable services to the masses in India,\u201d said Dr. Michael Free, Special Advisor for Healthcare, Unitus Seed Fund. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to getting more deeply involved with helping them identify the best opportunities and then to work with their portfolio companies to bring about scaled healthcare impact to the masses in India, and hopefully globally as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe continue to be very impressed with the quality of healthcare-focused entrepreneurs we\u2019re meeting in India who have the experience, passion, and innovations to deliver affordable healthcare to the masses,\u201d said Dave Richards, Managing Partner, Unitus Seed Fund. \u201cWe\u2019re excited to have Dr. Free formally joining as an advisor to strengthen our healthcare IQ and support for our high-growth potential portfolio companies.\u201d<span class=\"tags\">Tags: <a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/updates\/tag\/bop-healthcare\/\" rel=\"tag\">bop healthcare<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/updates\/tag\/impact-investment\/\" rel=\"tag\">impact investment<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/updates\/tag\/investment-strategy\/\" rel=\"tag\">investment strategy<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/updates\/tag\/michael-free\/\" rel=\"tag\">michael free<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In conjunction with the\u00a0announcement of our third India healthcare seed funding investment\u00a0in the past 100 days, we are announcing our intention to invest in\u00a0another\u00a03-4 healthcare startups in 2014. We are also pleased to announce that\u00a0Dr. Michael J. Free\u00a0OBE, Ph. D., \u00a0a globally-recognized global health expert and 35-year technology leader at\u00a0PATH, is joining Unitus Seed Fund&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/updates\/unitus-seed-fund-is-doubling-down-on-healthcare-investments\/\">Read more &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_aioseop_title":"","_aioseop_description":"With India's healthcare spending nearly $100B, we're planning 3-4 more investments in 2014. Dr. Michael Free has joined as Special Advisor.","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[124,121,147,146],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2916"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2916\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}