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SwissHealth Ventures: digital, innovative, personal.

SwissHealth Ventures invests in start-ups whose ideas set the course for a high quality, cost-effective healthcare system.

Our focus

Who we are

SwissHealth Ventures AG is a member of the CSS Group, Switzerland's leading health insurer. We are the ideal healthcare partner for ambitious start-ups in the field of digital health.

Our industry-specific expertise is com­plemented by the support of experienced venture capital partner Redstone, enabling agile and sustainable growth.

What we offer

Know-how
We offer multi-faceted expert knowledge and support for digital health business models without interfering with operational activities.
Efficiency
With lean and agile decision-making processes, we help start-ups reach their next milestones quickly and easily.
Market closeness
Our strong network within the Swiss healthcare system facilitates rapid market access.
Trust
Some 1.8 million people trust CSS. We can capitalise on this basis and substance to give start-ups a competitive edge in terms of trust.

Our investment focus

We invest in start-ups that advance healthcare with new digital technologies and strive for synergies with the CSS Group. With targeted investments, we want to support people in staying healthy, getting healthy, or living with an illness. In addition, we focus on digital solutions that directly increase efficiency for the core business of health insurers.

How we operate

  • Volume
    SwissHealth Ventures makes its investments in accordance with the customary venture capital standards. The amount invested in each start-up should generally be in the range of 0.5 to 4 million Swiss francs. That means our investment in any start-up is usually less than 20%.
  • Phase
    We are looking for start-ups in the growth phase. In other words, we invest in series A and series B rounds. Ideally, the company was founded at least two to three years ago and has already achieved initial success. These include market launches, paying customers and significant growth.
  • Region
    We focus on European start-ups whose products and services are relevant to the Swiss healthcare market or aim to become so.

We are shaping the digital health of tomorrow in the following areas:

More efficient thanks to new technologies

Being insured

  • Digital health insurance
  • Communication and marketing
  • Patient rep. outcomes
  • Corporate infrastructure
  • Digitalisation and efficiency gains in health insurance

Lifestyle and wellness innovations

Staying healthy

  • Fitness
  • Nutrition
  • Self-tracking
  • Mental health
  • Independent living in old age

Digitally assisted recovery

Getting healthy

  • Telemedicine
  • Online appointment-booking
  • Early detection
  • Communication with care providers

Support for chronic illnesses

Living with illness

  • Chronicle care
  • Patient monitoring
  • Care coordination
  • Advanced diagnosis
  • Specific therapy

Get Funded

Does your start-up fit our investment criteria and are there potential synergies with the CSS Group? Then we look forward to hearing from you.

Portfolio

Heartbeat Medical

Yannick Schreckenberger explains how the solution developed by Heartbeat Medical strengthens the focus of the healthcare and compensation system on patients' quality of life.

Heartbeat Medical operates a platform that links patient-reported outcomes (PROs) with clinical data to evaluate treatment. PROs use standardised questionnaires to measure how patients assess the outcome of their treatment and their health-related quality of life. Linking them with clinical data provides a sound basis for data-driven decision-making on medical, therapeutic and economic matters. In this way, for instance, Heartbeat Medical facilitates quality-centred reimbursement models. In addition to active use of the platform by hospitals, PROs have recently been gaining more attention in the context of cantonal quality assurance.

Data-driven treatment paths not only mean measurable outcomes and a better quality of life for patients: the improved quality of care can also help to curb healthcare costs.

Humanoo

Philip Pogoretschnik shows how he improves the physical and mental health of people with Humanoo.

Humanoo has developed a platform for digital health management that helps make people and organisations healthier. The digital health company offers numerous on-demand programmes for fitness, physio, yoga, mindfulness, sleep and nutrition. SwissHealth Ventures invested in this start-up in 2021 as lead investor in the series B round (which raised a total of USD 10 million in funding from all investors). The capital raised gives Humanoo the resources required to further develop its core product and keep growing.

Humanoo also forms the basis for the CSS active365 (in German) rewards app. Users get access to Humanoo programmes and are rewarded with up to CHF 600 a year for leading a healthy lifestyle.

Flow Neuroscience

Erik Rehn demonstrates how Flow can reduce depression symptoms with the help of brain stimulation and behavioural therapy.

The Flow Neuroscience start-up offers a digital and medication-free therapy for treating clinical depression. The combi­nation therapy consists of a brain stimu­lation headset coupled with a behavioral therapy app. This enables patients to treat depression under guidance at home or in the company of a specialist. SwissHealth Ventures invested in this start-up in 2021 as co-lead investor in the series A round, along with Khosla Ventures and Zühlke Ventures. The additional capital raised will enable Flow Neuroscience to tailor the existing solution more specifically to the individual patient, expand on its offering designed for use in interventions supervised by a professional, and access new markets.

The Flow Neuroscience solution aims to personalise the treatment of people with mental health problems. SwissHealth Ventures is convinced that this innovative form of therapy will close a gap in the healthcare market.

OnlineDoctor

Tobias Wolf explains how OnlineDoctor gives patients with skin problems easy access without long waiting periods to a specialist recommendation for action.

With OnlineDoctor, skin problems can be assessed quickly, regardless of location and at low cost by dermatologists licensed in Switzerland. Via a web-based platform, patients receive an initial specialist assessment including a recommendation for action within 48 hours. SwissHealth Ventures participated in 2020 as lead investor in this Swiss telemedicine start-up as part of the A-round (investment volume of all investors total around 5.5 million Swiss francs).

CSS has already made this service a fixed part of its offering, where it is known as the «online skin check». The uncompli­cated skin check by Swiss dermatologists contributes to digital integrated care.

Pregnolia

Bruno Candrian explains how Pregnolia improves medical support during pregnancy.

Pregnolia has developed a device that supports the diagnosis of premature birth. It enables gynaecologists to measure cervical stiffness more precisely and thus make a better assessment of the risk of premature birth. SwissHealth Ventures invested in this ETH spin-off in 2020 in the series A round (which raised a total of 4.2 million Swiss francs in funding from all investors).

SwissHealth Ventures believes in the success of the Pregnolia measurement system and its ability to provide great reassurance to professionals and pregnant women. In addition, we believe that this method will reduce healthcare costs in the long term.

CSS Group. Your health partner.

Investments for the benefit of insured persons

CSS is committed to high quality, cost-efficient healthcare for the future. As a healthcare partner, it therefore invests in innovative start-ups. These are intended to make tomorrow's medical care accessible to insured persons through new digital offerings. The funds made available for this purpose, amounting to 50 million Swiss francs, come from surpluses from the supplementary insurance business.

CSS Group