BStartup, Banco Sabadell’s financial service specialised in innovative technology and digital companies, has launched the 6^th Edition of BStartup Health with a view to continuing supporting pre-seed and seed stage health projects with targeted investment mainly aimed at validating the technology/research and the business model.

The application process is open to Spanish companies with international growth prospects and a differential and innovative value proposition led by entrepreneurs, which are engaged in the fields of medical devices, diagnostics, pharma or e-health. Furthermore, the project must be at pre-seed, seed or early-stage and aim to reach maturity with optimal and desirable guarantees for subsequent funding rounds with sector venture capital.

The registration process will remain open during the entire month of September, after which a total of three projects will be selected following the structure of its previous editions. Each of these projects will receive an investment of 100,000 euros.

In addition, the startups selected will benefit from a support plan through which they will receive mentorship from one of the four members of BStartup Health’s scientific-technical committee, made up by expert health investors with ample entrepreneurial and/or scientific experience. This committee’s members are Dr Clara Campàs, co-founder of Asabys Partners; Carlos Gallardo, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Almirall and founder of CG Health Ventures; Dr Damià Tormo, founder and managing partner at Columbus Venture Partners; and Dr Montserrat Vendrell, partner at Alta Life Sciences. A significant part of this process will focus on specialist business advice at the strategic level, the definition of a roadmap and guidance in terms of the fundraising strategy, among other aspects. In addition, the selected companies will have access to some of the most important investors and will receive support from the BStartup team during activities such as the preparation for an investment round.

Yolanda Pérez, Director at Banco Sabadell’s BStartup, comments: “We are very happy with how BStartup Health has consolidated itself. We are interested in promoting the channelling of research from universities and research centres to the sector, market and society. We believe there is a big gap in the pre-seed stage in Spain, but also great opportunities”.

The registration process for the 6^th Edition of BStartup Health is open until 1 October 2023 on the BStartup’s website.

About BStartup Health

The BStartup Health programme was born in 2018 and is aimed at health projects in very early stages, in which the funding is mainly allocated to validate the technology and the market, an area in which there is precisely less investment available.

During the five previous editions, 639 projects were submitted and the following companies were selected: Time is Brain, Thytech, Sycai Medical, Inbrain Neuroelectronics, Gate2Brain, Dive Medical, Admit Therapeutics, Able Human Motion, Renalyse, Oxolife, Doppli, MiWEndo, Oniria, Nanobots Therapeutics, which are engaged in fields as diverse as Alzheimer’s, treatment of strokes, mobility solutions for people with disabilities, kidney disease diagnosis, early cancer detection and treatment or human reproduction. Most of these companies are spin-offs of research institutes of Spanish universities and hospitals.

Banco Sabadell’s commitment

Banco Sabadell Group continues to strengthen its position as a prominent agent in the health sector covering various investment stages as main investor of Sabadell Asabys Health Innovation Fund, which carries out investment in early stages in the areas of biotech, medtech, digital health and innovative services, as well as benchmark investor in Ysios Biofund II Innvierte.

Furthermore, since 2006 the Banco Sabadell Foundation gives out the Biomedical Research Award, in order to recognise young researchers with an outstanding track-record in the field of biomedical and health science research, who stand out in their speciality for their capacity for innovation.