The Corporate Venture Capital-as-a-Service Influencer

#Insurtech = AXA Strategic Ventures investiert in ein Digital Health Startup, das leicht zugängliche und zuverlässige medizinische Versorgung online anbietet

 

• AXA Strategic Ventures (ASV) ist der Leadinvestor in der Finanzierungsrunde von Medlanes, einem Berliner Digital Health Unternehmen. 
• Medlanes vereint Machine-Learning-Technologie mit der Erfahrung eines Arztes, um Patienten eine einfache, aber qualitativ hochwertige erste Anlaufstelle der Gesundheitsversorgung zu bieten. 
• Die Finanzierungsrunde ermöglicht Medlanes, mit dem Service in neue Märkte zu expandieren, Partnerschaften mit Versicherungsunternehmen aufzubauen sowie das Leistungsspektrum zu erweitern. 

 

 AXA Strategic Ventures (ASV), ein weltweiter Venture Capital Fonds mit 230 Mio. € (250 Mio. $) Volumen, gibt heute eine neue Investition bekannt und fügt seinem Portfolio in Europa eine Minderheitsbeteiligung an Medlanes hinzu. Im Jahr 2014 von Dr. Emil Kendziorra und Erik Stoffregen gegründet und durch Rheingau Founders finanziert, ist Medlanes eines der führenden digitalen Gesundheitsunternehmen in Europa, das die Vorteile der mobilen Welt und des Webs mit der Qualität und Zuverlässigkeit eines Arztbesuchs kombiniert. 

"Wir revolutionieren das Gesundheitssystem, in dem wir Patienten einen einfachen ersten Kontakt zu qualitativer Versorgung durch proprietäre Technologie und ein weitreichendes Ärztenetzwerk ermöglichen", teilt Dr. Emil Kendziorra, Mitgründer und CEO von Medlanes mit.“Weitere Pläne des Unternehmens sind die intensive Zusammenarbeit mit Versicherungen sowie neue Leistungen, u.a. digital vorbereitete Hausbesuche und andere Möglichkeiten des Arztkontaktes. „Wir werden das Kapital nutzen, um unser Angebot in Deutschland zu erweitern und in diesem Jahr in Märkten wie Frankreich und Großbritannien zu starten. Zur gleichen Zeit vorfolgen wir die Entwicklung unseres Produktes weiter und bieten neue Leistungen an. " 

"Unternehmen wie Medlanes haben ein einzigartiges digitales Werkzeug entwickelt, das dem besseren Verständnis und der optimaleren Versorgung von Anwendern und Patienten dient. Die Behandlung und Versorgung wird bequemer und koordinierter sowie genauer auf die Bedürfnisse der Patienten abgestimmt. Mit einem innovativen Ansatz bringt Medlanes die Medizin online“, führt Minh Q.Tran, General Partner von AXA Strategic Ventures, aus. 

Das "Medlanes-System" vereint eine einzigartige skalierbare Machine-Learning-Technologie mit einem weitreichenden Ärztenetzwerk. Das System wurde mit mehreren hunderttausend Datenpunkten trainiert und umfasst eine große Anzahl an Erkrankungen. Das Startup will wiederkehrende Probleme der Gesundheitsversorgung lösen (Kosten, Wartezeiten, usw...), indem es medizinische Konsultation über seine Webseite oder App anbietet. Die Patienten können ihre Symptome beschreiben, ein Bild hinzufügen oder eine spezifische Frage stellen. Im Anschluss wertet Medlanes die Informationen aus und leitet die Informationen an den richtigen Arzt weiter, der in Kürze antwortet. Mit der App und dem Webservice von Medlanes hat der Nutzer jederzeit und überall Zugang zur Gesundheitsversorgung, im Grunde den Arzt auf dem Smartphone. 

Erfahren Sie mehr unter www.medlanes.com. 

 

#Insurtech = @AXAVentures invests in a digital health start-up that provides accessible and affordable medical advice and care online.

 

• AXA Strategic Ventures (ASV) leads an investment round in Medlanes, the Berlin based digital health company. 
• Medlanes combines machine-learning technology with doctor knowledge to offer patients a simple but high-quality first contact point to healthcare. 
• The funding round will allow Medlanes to expand its offering to new markets, start partnerships with insurance companies and broaden its service. 

 

 AXA Strategic Ventures (ASV), a global €230 million ($250 million) venture capital fund, announces today that it adds a new investment to its portfolio in Europe, a minority stake in a capital round in Medlanes. Founded in 2014 in Berlin by Dr. Emil Kendziorra and Erik Stoffregen and funded by Rheingau Founders, Medlanes is one of the leading digital health companies in Europe combining the convenience of the web and mobile world with the quality and reliability of a doctor’s visit. 

“We are creating the digital health revolution by enabling patients to easily make their first contact to healthcare and get high quality care through our proprietary technology and doctor network“, said Dr. Emil Kendziorra, Co-founder and CEO at Medlanes. “Further plans for the company include intensive cooperation with insurance providers and new offerings such as digitally-prepared home visits and other contact points. We will use the capital to expand our offering in Germany and to launch in markets such as France and Great Britain during this year. At the same time we will continue developing our product and offer new services.” 

”Companies like Medlanes have developed a unique digital tool to better understand and serve their users and patients. That makes treatment and care more convenient, more coordinated, and more responsive to consumer needs. Medlanes is bringing medicine online with an innovative approach”, said Minh Q.Tran, General Partner

"Medlanes System" combines a unique scalable machine learning technology with a wide-spanning doctor network. It was trained with hundreds of thousands of case data points and spans a large number of medical conditions. The start-up wants to solve some recurrent issues faced by patients (cost, waiting list to see a doctor, etc…) by providing people with medical consultations through its website and app. Patients can describe their symptoms, take a picture or post a question, and Medlanes will first make an online assessment and then connect them to the right medical professional to answer their question. With the Medlanes’ app and web service users get access to healthcare anytime, anywhere, basically a doctor on a smartphone. 

Find out more at www.medlanes.com. 

#Insurtech #Digital #Health = @AXAVentures investit dans le domaine de la santé digitale et des conseils et soins médicaux en ligne

• AXA Strategic Ventures (ASV) a mené un tour de table pour Medlanes, start-up situé à Berlin qui fournit en ligne des conseils et soins médicaux accessibles et de qualité. 
• Medlanes associe une technologie d’intelligence artificielle unique au savoir et à l’expérience des médecins afin d’offrir aux patients un premier point d'entrée simple et de qualité dans le domaine de la santé. 
• Le tour de table permettra ainsi à Medlanes de développer son offre sur de nouveaux marchés, de nouer des partenariats avec des assureurs et d'élargir sa gamme de services. 

 

AXA Strategic Ventures (AXA SV), fonds de capital-risque doté de 230 millions d'euros ($250 million), a annoncé aujourd'hui l'ajout à son portefeuille européen d'un nouvel investissement, une participation minoritaire dans Medlanes. Fondée en 2014 à Berlin par le Dr Emil Kendziorra et Erik Stoffregen et financée par Rheingau Founders, la société Medlanes est devenue un des leaders de la santé digitale en Europe en associant la facilité d'utilisation du web et du mobile à la qualité et la fiabilité d'un rendez-vous médical. 

« La révolution de la santé digitale est en marche : nous facilitons le premier contact avec les patients et leur offrons des soins de qualité grâce à notre technologie et à notre réseau de médecins », explique Dr Emil Kendziorra, co-fondateur et PDG de Medlanes. « Nous projetons de renforcer notre coopération avec les assureurs et de développer de nouvelles offres comme l'organisation en ligne de visites à domicile, entre autres points de contact. Nous allons utiliser ces fonds pour développer notre offre en Allemagne et nous lancer cette année sur d'autres marchés, comme la France ou la Grande-Bretagne. Nous allons également poursuivre le développement de notre produit et étoffer notre offre de services. » 

« Les sociétés comme Medlanes ont mis au point un outil digital unique qui permet de mieux comprendre les utilisateurs et patients pour leur offrir un service adapté, qui passe par des traitements et des soins plus pratiques, mieux organisés et mieux adaptés aux besoins des consommateurs. Medlanes a développé une approche innovante de la médecine », conclut Minh Q.Tran, General Partner, AXA Strategic Ventures. 

Le « système Medlanes » associe une technologie unique d’intelligence artificielle connectée à un vaste réseau de médecins. Le système a été testé avec des centaines de milliers de points de données précis et recouvre un vaste éventail de pathologies. La start-up veut apporter une solution aux problèmes fréquemment rencontrés par les patients (coûts, listes d’attente) en donnant accès à des consultations médicales via son site et son application. Les patients décrivent leurs symptômes, postent une photo ou posent une question et Medlanes établit un premier diagnostic en ligne avant de les mettre en contact avec le professionnel de santé le plus à même de répondre à leurs interrogations. Avec l'application Medlanes et son service web, les utilisateurs ont en permanence accès au système de santé et à un médecin quel que soit l’endroit où ils se trouvent et en toutes circonstances via leur Smartphone. 

Plus d'informations sur www.medlanes.com. 

Sequoia Capital Says Blockchain Could Cut MasterCard Earnings - CoinDesk

Venture capital giant Sequoia Capital has suggested that the rise of blockchain technology could put a damper on earnings at major credit card networks such as MasterCard.

The comments came as part of Sequoia’s annual report on the performance of the Sequoia Fund, the firm’s consolidated portfolio offering. The fund currently holds stock in 10 publicly traded companies as part of its portfolio, with MasterCard accounting for 4.3% of its assets.

In the report, Sequoia praised MasterCard for its strong performance since its 2006 IPO, but indicated that it believes new technologies, including blockchain, will begin to affect the company’s value.

Sequoia wrote:

"MasterCard’s virtues are well-appreciated by the stock market but the evolution of mobile payment habits and the rise of blockchain ledger technology could pose longer term challenges to the company’s wildly profitable business model."

In addition to MasterCard, other Sequoia Capital portfolio holdings include Berkshire Hathaway, O’Reilly Automotive and Alphabet, parent firm of Google.

One of the most prolific VC firms, Sequoia Capital invested in 48 startups in 2015 in an attempt to find its next big success story.

Sequoia has previously invested in Apple, PayPal, Stripe, WhatsApp and Yahoo, with 53 of its portfolio firms reaching the initial public offering (IPO) stage since 1972.

via www.coindesk.com

Insurance start-up hires best-selling author Dan Ariely - FT.com

©Bloomberg

Dan Ariely

A best-selling author on behavioural economics is to put his ideas into practice by joining an insurance start-up. Dan Ariely, author of the 2008 hit Predictably Irrational, is to become chief behavioural officer at Lemonade, a US-based peer-to-peer insurance company.

The move comes amid a surge in interest in insurance start-ups, as new capital looks to shake up the industry.

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#AgTech #Insurtech: les drones sont désormais utilisés dans l'agriculture de précision | L'Atelier : Accelerating Innovation

via www.atelier.net

Europe: Peer-to-peer insurance - is this the future? - 25 Feb 2016 - Post Online Analysis

Europe: Peer-to-peer insurance - is this the future?

The sharing economy meets insurance - so is it time for reciprocity insurance contracts to take off? The peer-to-peer approach aims to strengthen the sense of responsibility between a group of people holding the same product line, while minimising the number of fraudulent cases. Although it remains a relatively unknown concept in the UK, it is gaining a foothold in Germany and other countries are also seeing the potential with new launches happening. Peer-to-peer insurance is being described as a...

via www.postonline.co.uk

Playtime is over: Investors want their money back | VentureBeat | Entrepreneur | by Vineet Jain, Egnyte

Image Credit: XiXinXing/Shutterstock

For the better part of the last decade, Silicon Valley tech companies have seemingly been on a mission to make up for the down years following the burst of the dot-com bubble, spending money at a record clip. The new offices have been stunning, the sales kickoffs have been larger than life, and the holiday parties have been nothing short of extravagant. Unfortunately for a majority of those companies, who have over-indulged in the exuberance, this joy ride is coming to a screeching halt.

Apple, which is often the poster child for the S&P 500 and widely considered the “consumer’s stock,” hit a YTD low of $92.11 earlier this month, which has set the tone for the rest of the tech market. Twitter, GoPro, Fitbit, and many more companies that were once considered darlings of the unicorn club, have suffered serious hits to their stock price to start this year and have been trading below their initial IPO price. To make matters worse, crude oil hit its lowest price point since May 2003, and there have been commodity busts worldwide.

Understandably, this has created a palpable fear all across Wall Street. There is only one way for companies to gain investor confidence: show the ability to produce yield.

This is true for public companies that have been pummeled over the last few weeks as well as the private companies that have been looking for a quick exit. The most reassuring thing a company can do for its investors is to turn a profit and put money back into their pockets. It will be especially important during these bear market times, as the VCs want nothing more than liquidity so they have the flexibility to shop for their next investment.

Chasing yield has lead to underperformance

With commodities underperforming and tech producing home runs like Google and Facebook, investors have been willing to take their chances in the private markets. Unfortunately, this has yielded far more risk than reward.

Some organizations have been more interested in adding users to create impressive top-line growth for their business than focusing on sales to build a profitable business with a healthy bottom-line. This has resulted in freemium business models, mega rounds of funding, and extremely crowded markets.

On the investment side, it has opened up the floodgates for venture capital funding. VCs have poured money into the startup ecosystem, deploying more than $58.8 billion in funding during 2015. “Free money” is flowing, and some companies have jumped at the opportunity, often to their detriment.

For example, Jawbone, which has taken over $1 billion in investments over its lifespan and saw its valuation hit upwards of $3 b

via venturebeat.com

#VC = How to be your VC's favorite portfolio company

This is an inherent trait in most founders, but doesn’t speak to the ongoing traits needed to maintain relationships with those closest to your business.

Confidence can mean a lot of things to different people, and should be rooted in other key characteristics:

• Authentic – Investors want to work with founders that are truthful and upfront about all aspects of their business. With an emphasis on data and facts, you will immediately gain the trust and respect of investors. They don’t want to be sold to, especially if it’s not the truth, and much rather prefer to work honestly with you to find success.
• Convincing – Founders that use confidence and charisma in tandem to present their case will leave a lasting impression.
• Driven – This goes without saying, but investors will want to feel your ambition, passion and commitment to the business and ultimately, their investment. Actions speak louder than words here. Do the right activities day in and day out and good investors will take notice.
• Receptive – Confidence is great, but being humble and open to feedback is also important. Building a business is hard, and constructive criticism can be incredibly valuable at all stages of growth.

Investors want to work with good people who understand how business works and respect the nature and balance of business interactions. In essence, understand and listen to social and business cues to know how and when to ask for help.

Here are some more specific best practices:

Get access to resources you need

The biggest step you can take to get access to the right resources from your VC is doing research on what they actually have access to. Make educated requests by knowing who and what they know based on past portfolio companies, experiences they’ve had on the board of companies similar to you, etc. Knowing your investor inside and out, and referencing their experiences, is highly recommended and will be impressive to them, as well as it shows you respect them and took the time to educate yourself on how they can help.

Understand when to pull in your investor for help

You are the founder of a business because you have the smarts and hopefully the hustle to get access to the resources and people that you need. Y

via thenextweb.com

Safe drivers offered pizza and films by insurers - FT.com

©Alamy

Looking ahead: Legal & General is using retina scanning to speed up life insurance applications in India

Pizza, films and music downloads are just some of the rewards that Carrot, a car insurer, offers to responsible drivers.

Insurers have been using telematics to assess customers’ driving for some time but Carrot, along with a number of rivals, is taking this a stage further by using mobile phones rather than “black boxes” in cars to compile data. It also uses mobiles to deliver both immediate feedback on the customer’s driving and — if warranted — the rewards.

Insurers are increasingly under pressure to embrace new technologies, says François Robinet, chairman of Axa Strategic Ventures, as the main components of the industry — capital, dealing with customers and data — are all candidates for disruption. A poll by PwC, the professional services firm, found that 69 per cent of insurance chief executives are concerned about the speed of technological change.

69%

of insurance CEOs concerned about speed of change in technology

Tech initiatives under way in the industry vary. Legal & General is using retina scanning in India to speed up the process of applying for life insurance products. The retina scan immediately brings up personal data that can be used to fill in online forms. Elsewhere, insurers are using information on Facebook and social media when assessing claims. In China, Zhong An (a joint venture between Alibaba, Tencent and Ping An) sells insurance covering individual ecommerce transactions.

Insurers are also using their own data better to price new policies. Aviva has discovered that its pensions customers tend to be safer drivers, so it offers them motor insurance discounts.

$1bn

committed by insurers to venture capital start-up funds

Many initiatives are developed internally, often in company “labs” devoted to new products and services. But insurers are also looking externally. Some of them, including XL Catlin, Axa, Aviva, MassMutual and Allianz, have set up dedicated venture capital funds to invest in start-ups. Globally, insurers have committed more than $1bn to such funds. This month, Axa Strategic Ventures helped to lead a $55m funding round for Blockstream, which is developing blockchain, or shared ledger, technology.

For many, the real prize technology offers is the opportunity to reduce claims costs. Telematics in motor insurance is one example. If customers have incentives to drive more slowly, there should be fewer accidents. Similarly Discovery, a South African health insurer, offers incentives to customers who work out, tracking their activity via wearable devices. In the US, Beam has extended the principle to dental insurance with bluetooth-connected toothbrushes and an app that tells customers how well they are brushing.

via www.ft.com

#VC = Nokia Growth Partners Announces $350M Fund Focused On IoT | TechCrunch

What do you finance if you’re in the network business and need to encourage your customers to upgrade faster to the next generation of cellular tech (aka 5G)? Why the Internet of Things of course…

The Nokia-funded VC firm Nokia Growth Partners has just announced a new $350 million fund focused specifically on IoT — and sponsored exclusively by Nokia.

Announcing the fund at a press briefing today, Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri said: “We are launching a $350 million IoT investment fund through Nokia Growth Partners. Our goal is to help accelerate the broad IoT ecosystem, increase the demand for connectivity and generate returns from investments in compelling opportunities.”

“The fund will invest in promising companies primarily around Connected Enterprise, Consumer Solutions, Connected Car and Digital Health, as well as enabling technologies with a focus on capabilities in big data and analytics,” NGP said in a statement.

Earlier in his presentation Suri talked up the potential for 5G to accelerate not only network traffic but also Nokia’s network business.

5G “must happen fast because important use cases demand it”, he asserted, pointing to examples such as autonomous driving as requiring low latency and robustness, and healthcare needing baked in privacy and security. But of course the imperative of next-gen network tech can be encouraged along if you are also injecting $350 million into helping the development of such use cases.

With such clear business self-interest on show, Suri also emphasized that Nokia’s focus will be on driving new opportunities via IoT in “a collaborative and open way”.

“When it comes to the Internet of Things we have been moving fast testing ideas. New business model. New ways to use connectivity to deliver benefits to people and enterprises of all kinds,” he noted, going on to list various examples of how it has worked with others to foster IoT experiments.

“For example we have worked with KT in Korea on the application of real time analytics and automated action to increase farming productivity. We have conducted a market trial for connected bus terminals in New Zealand. Trying new business models for smart cities that go beyond advertising and that improve the overall transportation experience. We have worked on providing intelligent transportation on the highways of Germany with real-time hazard warnings and other safety information, enabling vehicle to vehicle and other infrastructure communication.”

In terms of where NGP will be investing with this IoT fund there is no specific regional focus — as with its main fund which invests in startups globally.

NGP managing partner Bo Ilsoe told TechCrunch the fund expects to make around one investment per month — so 12 or up to 15 per year. He confirmed it will also focus on early stage investments. NGP does do follow on funding too. So it’s business as usual for the firm — but this specific chunk of funding is earmarked for IoT startups, with plenty of opportunities at the stack/network level, rather than on hardware/devices themselves, he added.

Also today, Nokia’s Suri revealed the company has made an acquisition in the network security space, buying Canadian identity access management software company Nakina. He said they expect this transaction to close in Q1.

via techcrunch.com

#VC @AXAVentures = investisseur actif chez les femmes dans l’entrepreneuriat Tech en 2015? | FrenchWeb.fr

L’an dernier Girls In Tech innovait en annonçant la toute première édition de son baromètre. Une nouvelle source, simple et claire, répondant enfin aux questions que nous nous posons toutes : «Femmes et hommes entreprennent-ils différemment?» «Quel poids les entrepreneuses tech représentent-elles dans l’écosystème ?» «Qui finance les fondatrices de start-up?».

Et quand la team de Girls In Tech s’engage, elle agit ! Voici donc venue l’heure de faire le bilan sur l’année 2015…

Une année de rattrapage pour les femmes entrepreneuses

Si les femmes qui entreprennent dans la tech et lèvent des fonds pour financer leur projet restent très minoritaires (15% des levées de fonds et 10% des montants levés), elles pèsent pourtant de plus en plus dans l’écosystème : ces fondatrices ont levé 90 millions d'euros en 2015, soit 3,5 fois plus que l’an dernier ! Ce net rattrapage se retrouve également dans la progression du montant moyen levé par ces entrepreneuses, puisqu’il a plus que doublé, atteignant 2,3 millions d'euros… contre 3,6 millions d'euros pour les hommes.

Mais pourquoi un tel décalage sur la taille de tour de financement persiste-t-il? Les femmes seraient-elles alors plus prudentes, voire moins ambitieuses que les hommes en levant moins d’argent? Certainement pas. Selon moi, l’explication est ailleurs : le mouvement de rattrapage est en marche mais ne peut se faire qu’en douceur : soyons réalistes, une société donnée ne peut lever un 3ème tour de financement de 10 illions d'euros sans passer par un tour d’amorçage de 500 000 euros ! On constate en effet une sur-pondération des levées en amorçage chez les femmes: 50% d’entre elles contre 32% chez les hommes ! Halte aux mauvaises interprétations ! Inutile d’en déduire que les femmes entrepreneuses sont incapables de faire croître leur entreprise et d’atteindre des niveaux de maturité plus importants : les tours records de VestiaireCollective (33 millions d'euros), de Connecthings (9,5 millions d'euros) ou encore de 1001Pharmacies (6,5 millions d'euros) peuvent en témoigner.

Qui sont ces femmes entrepreneuses?

Fanny Moizant, Sophie Hersan, Laetitia Gazel Anthoine, Sabine Safi… elles sont à la tête de ces entreprises qui lèvent des montants record, mais qui sont-elles?

Tout d’abord, STOP aux idées reçues, ces femmes sont majoritairement très expérimentées puisque 40% d’entre elles cumulent plus de 10 ans d’expériences professionnelles en entreprise (à l’instar d’Isabelle Bordry, fondatrice de Rentency après 5 ans chez Hachette puis 9 ans chez Yahoo) alors que seulement 10% d’entre elles se lancent après ou pendant leurs études (comme la désormais très médiatisée Marjolaine Grondin, co-fondatrice de Jam). L’étude nous apprend également que cinq de ces fondatrices peuvent se targuer du titre de «serial entrepreneuse» : Tatiana Jama et Lara Rouyres de Selectionnist, Isabelle Bordry de Retency, Dominique Brogi de Meetphone et Hélène Fromen de Thank you Motion. Bravo à elles !

Le baromètre nous confirme cependant  quelques autres préjugés : 82% de ces entrepreneuses tech se lancent en Île-de -France (contre 63% pour les hommes) ; elles sont également sous-représentées dans l’électronique (5% contre 11% chez les hommes) ou le logiciel (16% contre 32% chez les hommes) au profit de l’Internet et du e-commerce (63% contre 45% chez les hommes).

Enfin, donnée intéressante pour vous Mesdames qui êtes en pleine réflexion de création, plus de la moitié de ces fondatrices s’associent

via www.frenchweb.fr

19.01.2016

Mobile World Capital Barcelona present at the Digital Health Summit during Mobile World Congress

International experts on mobile health will share the keys to their success in the congress and 4YN

Young Sohn, Samsung Electronics President during Digital Health Summit 2014

Mobile Health, the Internet of Things (IoT), wearables, smart cities, connected health and healthy ageing are some of the topics that will be showcased during the 3rd edition of the Digital Health & Wellness Summit (DHWS2016), which will take place at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) from the 22nd to the 24th of February in Barcelona. The event, which will be organised by the mHealth Program at Mobile World Capital Barcelona and the European Connected Health Alliance, will gather experts from the main companies working in mobile health and connected health, who will share the keys to their success and their expectations for the future. The 2014 edition included 380 participants from 40 different countries. Representatives from Orange, Qualcomm Life, Telefónica, Samsung, Roche Diabetes Care Spain and Adidas discussed the transformation towards a more personalised model of care.

“Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCB) is working to make health care more accessible and tailored to users thanks to new technologies. To be part of the Digital Health Summit is a way to promote the latest innovations and show the many opportunities these technologies can offer. For 2016, we have invited the leaders that will mark the way forward for mobile health in the years to come,” stated Joan Cornet, Mobile Health Director of MWCB.

Brian o’Connor, ECHAlliance Chair, explained: “New topics are appearing this year, such as the design of digital health solutions, the management of behaviours change or the identification of new talents needed by the sector, which are key elements to switch from experimentations only to a more mature market. (…) Enough researches and pilots have been done, it’s time to achieve our goals: Health and Digital Health are not different, e.g. the digitalisation is the only way for modern healthcare systems and, moreover, it’s a fantastic opportunity for growth and jobs creation”.

via www.mobilehealthglobal.com

A pair of London VCs are on a mission to get pension funds to put their billions into European tech startups | Business Insider India

Isomer Capital

Isomer Capital cofounders Joe Schorge and Chris Wade.

Isomer Capital

Isomer Capital

Isomer Capital cofounders Joe Schorge and Chris Wade.

A pair of London investors are on a mission to get more venture capital money flowing into European startups.

Joe Schorge and Chris Wade, the duo behind newly launched Isomer Capital, want the pension funds that have typically backed trusted Silicon Valley investment companies like Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz to start putting their billions into European venture capital firms.

"There are lots of cool startups in Europe but these startups need capital," Wade told Business Insider this week.

"We're building this European startup ecosystem in Europe with about 1/5 of the capital that's available in the US. The big pension funds do not invest in European VC funds."

Wade declined to comment on the exact pension funds he was referring to, hinting that he was in talks with a number of them about investing in Isomer Capital.

There was over $36 trillion (£25 trillion) held in pension funds worldwide in 2014, according to the "Global Pensions Assets Study" carried out by researchers at professional services firm Towers Watson.

via www.businessinsider.in

How Cities With Most Startup Accelerators Benefit | DC Inno

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How Hometeam Is Disrupting the Senior In-Home Care Industry - Fortune

Courtesy of Hometeam

Josh Bruno quit his job, turned down Harvard, and founded Hometeam.

This profile is part of “The Fortune Entrepreneurs” list. See the full package here.

Don’t let Josh Bruno’s charming smile and young age fool you. He may only be 29 years old, but Bruno is a fierce disruptor with a mission to overhaul the senior in-home care industry.

Bruno witnessed first-hand as his family struggled to find quality care for his 93-year-old grandfather. When the highly-independent, World War II veteran got sick, Bruno and his relatives scrambled to find help, but it only resulted in frustration. “It was a revolving door of caregivers who didn’t really have any context of what was going on,” Bruno says. “Something was clearly wrong in the way the whole system worked.”

Bruno decided to take matters into his own hands. In 2013, Bruno was working as an investor at Bain Capital Ventures when he began volunteering at various elder care agencies to see what the market was really like. For six months, he volunteered at 40 different agencies while still working full-time.

“It caught the attention of some of the partners at Bain,” Bruno says. “Some were very helpful, and some were like, ‘Hey man, are you going to do senior care or are you going to do venture capital?’”

He chose the former. In a matter of months, Bruno quit his job at Bain, turned down a Harvard Business School offer and founded Hometeam.

Hometeam aims to rethink how in-home care is administered to senior citizens. The two-year-old healthcare startup has raised $38.5 million to date with backers including Oak HC/FT, Lux Capital, IA Ventures, and Recruit Strategic Partners. Kaiser Permanente Ventures also just announced a $5 million investment in the company.

via fortune.com

Newest VCs: 7-Eleven, Vitamin Shoppe, JetBlue Airways launch venture operations - ContraCostaTimes.com

Tech giants like Google and Intel are known for their venture capital investing, funding startups that might be the next big thing. Now not-so-high-tech companies are opening VC arms in an attempt to cash in on advancing technology.

Think Walgreens, 7-Eleven and Vitamin Shoppe. Last week, JetBlue Airways announced the launch of its own VC arm based in Redwood City.

"I think most large corporations at the moment are at least having the discussion -- should they be investing in startups, or not? To keep on top of all the innovation that is coming from startups," said Toby Lewis, chief analytics officer of Global Corporate Venturing, a trade group.

Corporate venture investment hit a 15-year high in 2015, according to data released last month by the National Venture Capital Association. Corporate VCs participated in one fifth of all U.S. deals last year, funneling more than $7.5 billion to startups. Globally the number of corporate VCs has grown 79 percent since 2011, with 801 such efforts reported in 2015, according to data from the trade group.

Walgreens launched Well Ventures in 2009, and while it hasn't publicly disclosed the dollar amount in its war chest, it has invested in companies including sleep apnea-focused ApniCure, respiratory health company Propeller Health and solar energy company SoCore Energy. Convenience store company 7-Eleven launched 7-Ventures in 2013, and soon after partnered with Andreessen Horowitz and other VC firms on a $12 million round of funding for Belly, a Chicago-based business that runs customer rewards programs. Vitamin Shoppe joined the National Venture Capital Association earlier this year.

via www.contracostatimes.com

Here's how to stay alive - Business Insider

US Army/Sgt. 1st Class Joe Abeln

There are storm clouds gathering over Silicon Valley – and it’s more than just El Nino.  

As a venture capitalist, I see a lot of data points within the private company marketplace.  Every Monday, I sit in a room with my partners and we discuss dozens of companies, both portfolio companies as well as those we are considering for investment.  When a market turns, we tend to see the signs earlier than the entrepreneurs working on the front lines.

This market?  I’d say it has turned.

It is going to be hard (or impossible) for many of today’s startups to raise funds.  And I think it will get worse before it gets better.  But, hey, my entrepreneurial friend, who ever said it was going to be easy?  One of my favorite expressions is: “that which does not kill us makes us stronger.”

So which is it going to be for you?  Tougher?  Or dead.

Fortunately, (unfortunately?) I’ve been to this movie before, during the dot-com “nuclear winter” – anyone remember that?   I’d like to think I’ve learned some things from that painful experience.  

I’ve seen companies live, and I’ve seen them die. And I’ve concluded that certain behaviors separate the two.

Which behaviors, you ask? Here are a few from my downturn playbook for how to stay alive.

Stop clinging to your (or anyone else’s) valuation:  You know what somebody else’s fundraise metrics are to you?  Irrelevant.  You know what your own last round post was?  Irrelevant. Yes, I know, not legally, because of those pesky rights and preferences.  But emotionally, trust me, it is irrelevant now.  We even have a name for this – valuation nostalgia.  Yes, it was great when companies could raise those amounts, at those prices, blah, blah, blah, but the cheap-money-for-no-dilution thing is largely over now. The sooner you get on with dealing with that, and not clinging to the past, the better off you will be. As my DFJ partner Josh Stein says, “flat is the new up.”  

Redefine what success looks like:  I had lunch last week with a friend of mine who broke her leg in three places four months ago.  “I used to think a successful weekend was 10+ miles of running,” she said.  “For now, success is going to have to mean making it to the mailbox and back without my crutches.”  When a market like this turns, in order to survive, it is critical to redefine what success is going to look like for you – and your employees, and your investors, and your other stakeholders.  Holding on to ‘old’ ideas about IPO dates, large exits and massive new up rounds can ultimately be demotivating to your team.  If you can make it through the downturn, you will have those opportunities again.  But for now, reset your goals.

Heidi RoizenHeidi Roizen, partner at DFJ

via uk.businessinsider.com

VC firm Target Global opening Berlin office to focus on European investments - Tech.eu

Shmuel Chafets

Venture capital firm Target Global is opening a Berlin office to hone in on its European investments, particularly Germany and Israel, but also North America. The office will be led by general partners Yaron Valler and Shmuel Chafets.

Valler and Chafets joined the firm last year after leading investments such as Delivery Hero and iZettle respectively. With the opening of this new office, Target Global has already led seed investments in German startups Clark, Nestpick, and McMakler as well as Israel’s Missbeez. The company has previously invested in Delivery Hero, GoEuro, Book A Tiger, and Dreamlines and currently manages more than $300 million in assets.

The opening of the Berlin office is the next step in Target Global spreading its global network, said Alexander Frolov, partner. It also has offices in Moscow, Tel Aviv, and San Francisco.

“Wit

via tech.eu

How to Survive the Silicon Valley Bubble

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