Investment firm Spex Capital and London’s life sciences cluster organisation MedCity has opened their first joint call as part of their exclusive partnership to identify and fund the next generation of digital health and medtech innovators.
Applications are invited from early stage healthtech ventures with solutions to problems faced by healthcare systems globally. Interested companies will have six weeks to complete their applications for seed or series A rounds before the call closes at midnight on 27th October 2021.
The call comes against the backdrop of the pandemic, which has accelerated the use of digital health solutions and diagnostics devices by consumers, fuelling an unprecedented boom in investment in the sector. Under the joint call, MedCity will use its extensive networks and expertise to attract and assess applications from investment-ready companies developing breakthrough digital health tech and medtech. Spex Capital will look to invest up to a max of £5 million per target company. The average ticket is expected to between £500,000 and £2 million but smaller tickets will be welcome. Successful applicants will also benefit from access to advisory teams with deep sector experience.
Guidance on the application process and criteria for investment are outlined on the investment call web page. Applications are made via a secure, dedicated portal.
Founded in 2021 by serial health tech entrepreneur Claudio D’Angelo, London-based Spex Capital already has a portfolio of six high-growth heathtech companies. The venture firm launched with a team of 16, comprising seven investment team members, seven senior advisors and two venture partners. Founder and managing director Claudio D’Angelo leads the call from the Spex Capital side together with senior investment team member Filippo Falaschi.
Spex Capital aims to address the investment and funding gap which is largely overlooked by institutional and professional investors.
D’Angelo said: “We want to see innovative products and services being delivered for patients. Our partnership with MedCity will bring companies to potential investment and play an important role in creating a lively ecosystem, consistently with our mission to accelerate the healthcare digital revolution.”
Leading from the MedCity side to source and evaluate viable candidates are COO Nicki Bromwich and programme lead Sakura Holloway. Bromwich has 30 years’ experience as a clinician in the NHS and served as head of commercial development at Oxford AHSN before joining MedCity. Sakura Holloway is an IP and commercial strategist in the biotech sector with a technical background in molecular biology.
MedCity COO Nicki Bromwich views the exclusive call with Spex Capital as amplifying MedCity’s role in catalysing the growth of life science companies.
“Together we are tackling one of the biggest challenges for SMEs in this sector – raising finance to support the development and acceleration of the technology into the healthcare system. MedCity will leverage the extensive experience of its team and network of peers to identify and derisk those companies that have potential to make the biggest impact on patient outcomes and the health and social care systems.”
