The second edition of the e-Health Investment Forum, a unique and specific space for investment in digital health, was held on September 28th at the ESADE’s space in Barcelona. It was an online event where more than 400 persons that had registered had the possibility to be there in person or follow it online. This meeting focused on artificial intelligence for the health sector, and the start-ups of this field were able to present their projects focused on programs and algorithms for diagnosis, custom medicine, treatments and protocols, drug development processes and patient monitoring.

The e-Health Investment Forum was presented by Nadia Pons, the director of the CoMB’s program of Enterprise; Fernando Zallo, the director of ESADE BAN; Jaume Baró, the operational director of the Barcelona Activa; Irene Sanchez, the head of business creation of EIT Health Spain, and Cristian Pascual, the president of Barcelona Health Hub.

The organizers of the days emphasized that the objective of the conference is to search for projects that have the potential to transform the way medical care is given, empowering health professionals, improving the patient’s experience and the outcome of medical care. As in the first edition, the call was directed at health entrepreneurs who lead disruptive projects. After receiving applications from start-ups, a screening panel, formed by different health and investment experts, pre-selected the most promising ones. The selection process, based on the level of maturity of technology, its viability in the market and the experience of the team, offered the investors a unique opportunity, providing high-quality dealflow. 108 interest expressions have been received from investors to make contact with the launched start-ups.

The round table, moderated by Cristian Pascual, dealt with the process of raising money in artificial intelligence companies (AI), making emphasis on the main strengths and puzzles in which new projects in this sector can be found, as well as the different investment strategies. The participants were: Tim Juergens, Cofounder & General Manager at SeedLink; Leonor Alarcón, Ventures Team at Plug & Play; Jahed Momand, Business Angel, and José Luis Fernandez, Kunsen. 

To conclude, Robert Schultz, director of Massnex and, live from Boston via video, focused on how to take advantage of the empathy and AI to promote trust and better care for patients with uncovered medical needs.

Among the 40 projects received, the 9 start-ups selected to expose their projects were: Al for Dentistry; Heuristik; Iluria Ldt; IOMED; Lapsis Health; Legit Health; Made of Genes; mjn-neuro, and Sycai Medical. 

The e-Health Investment Forum was organized by Barcelona Health Hub, CoMB, ESADEBAN and Barcelona Activa. The event also counted on the participation of EIT Health and Biocat. They facilitated interaction for the digital health ecosystem with European investment.