VCs have had an up-and-down relationship with healthtech in the past couple of years.
While investors have remained fairly bullish on biotech companies, the sheen has come off digital health startups — with funding in the sub-sector dropping further than European tech as a whole in 2023 and remaining low into 2024.
But several VCs recently told Sifted they think investment will begin to pick up in the next year. And there’s real excitement around the potential of AI and the rise of preventative care to positively impact struggling healthcare systems.
They’re both areas that investors say they want to pump money into — as Sifted asks six VCs what healthtech ideas they’re keen to be pitched in 2024.
D2C diagnostics, business intelligence for pharmaceutical companies and tools for hospitals are also featured, as investors from Octopus, Ventures, Speedinvest, Frontline Ventures, InHealth Ventures, Northzone and Nina Capital share their thoughts.
D2C health diagnostics
Will Gibbs, partner at Octopus Ventures
There is a gap in the market for a healthtech startup that makes annual health MOTs accessible and affordable for consumers. A startup that offers comprehensive assessments at an accessible price point ─ by harnessing AI and advanced diagnostics ─ has the potential to gain significant market share.
A subscription model could provide continuous health monitoring and timely reminders, encouraging yearly check-ups. Partnering with insurers and employers to provide subsidised plans could further increase accessibility, promoting proactive health management and early disease detection.
AI-driven business intelligence platforms for pharma
Daria Gherghelas, associate at Speedinvest
AI paves the way for a new category of software companies with embedded service layers — similar to traditional B2B SaaS customer success teams — selling to pharmaceutical companies.
Commercial intelligence work is still largely outsourced by pharma — which is costly — and presents an opportunity for an AI-native company. Such a business could leverage software to gather and synthesise public and proprietary data on competition, market changes and ongoing clinical trials. Human input can further refine these insights and help pharma manage their portfolio and pipeline of drug candidates.
AI tools for hospitals
William McQuillan, partner at Frontline Ventures
An enormous amount of hospital staff and clinicians' time is spent on administrative tasks or triaging patients. On the clinicians' side, I’d like to see startups building new AI tools for enhanced triaging of patients, reducing the time needed for data collection. On the hospital management side, I’d like to see tools for better management of patient data, scheduling and billing. And, on the patient side, I’d like to see AI tools giving better-personalised medicine and enhanced post-hospital/post-operative care as well.
As it currently stands, healthcare systems — and hospitals in particular — are unable to cope with the increase in patient demands from an ageing population. AI is one of the few answers that can make a meaningful impact to increase resources and improve outcomes over the next decade. For this reason, we're seeing a reduction in lead time to sell into hospitals, and at Frontline we believe now is a better time than ever to be building AI tools for this market.
Diagnosis and care platforms for neurodegenerative diseases
Lavanya Bhamidipati, principal at InHealth Ventures
Neurodegenerative diseases (such as Parkinsons and dementia-type diseases like Alzheimers) have a large economic burden on society — it is estimated that the current cost of dementia alone to the UK is forecast to be £42 billion, 63% of which is borne by patients and their families.
We need healthtech companies that help with early diagnosis, monitoring and end-to-end management of these conditions.
Companies that use digital biomarkers to recognise early signs of cognitive decline, help patients get access to the right treatments, monitor their symptoms and coordinate care across all stakeholders (healthcare, social care and families) will reduce costs while creating significant patient impact.
Health management apps
Michiel Kotting, partner at Northzone
I would focus on creating an app designed to help patients manage their own health. This app would provide guidance on health-related decisions, help track health data and offer suggestions for treatment options.
While decision support and automation in the medical system through AI and data hold great promise, these require clinical proof, regulatory approval and uptake from medical professionals — an inherently slow and friction-filled process.
In contrast, developing tools to help patients directly manage their health and treatment has a lower barrier to adoption. This approach would initially attract individuals interested in longevity and those managing chronic diseases.
Tools for lower-trained healthcare professionals
Yahel Halamish, principal at Nina Capital
With an ageing population and a rising demand for healthcare services, healthcare systems worldwide are struggling to meet the demand, putting healthcare professionals at risk of burnout.
Tech-enabled tools that help lower-trained employees, such as nursing assistants, to provide care could help address this problem. These tools could continuously monitor patients and translate treatments into simple, easy-to-perform actions. A startup providing a product like this could reduce the load on medical professionals without altering current care pathways and workflows.
