Philips has become anchor investor in a new €200 million healthcare technology fund, Gilde Healthcare III, as it moves to develop new markets in the emerging area of patient-centric healthcare. The Dutch electronics giant says the investment is in line with its policy of open innovation and the company’s belief that the most effective way to deploy venture capital is via an independent fund backed by the expertise of a professional fund manager and the other investors.
Of course, corporate venturing in the healthcare field is nothing new - pharmaceutical and health care companies continue to turn to such vehicles to maintain a pipeline of emerging technologies in their field via captive investment arms or in-house incubators.
Merck Serono, for example, last year established a €40 million VC fund for drug discovery and development, while companies such as Roche and AHV - a fund backed by US-based not-for-profit health facilities owner Ascension Health - have over the past decade been investing in start-up and later stage ventures. Philips’ own healthcare division launched an incubator in 2006, as did its lighting division, to encourage spin-outs of promising business ideas.
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Author: Mary Lisbeth D’Amico
