Angels Santé: Taking Healthcare Deals Cross-border

Healthcare investment is a hot topic for Angels and Venture funds alike. Though European healthcare markets are fragmented, it is a universal issue that more patient-centric and affordable healthcare solutions need to be brought to all our aging markets.

Business Angels play a key role in identifying and fueling the most promising and relevant innovations that will service tomorrow’s healthcare systems.

Angels Santé (Angels for Health) one of the largest angel groups in Europe solely dedicated to healthcare investment, has made it its mission since its inception in 2008. This French network attracts relevant experts in life science to invest in their pre-qualified dealflow both in human and animal health. They have invested in over 50 projects in the last 6 years.

“Our hundred  members are international professionals who are keenly aware of the importance of facilitating cross-border investment to combat not just today’s pandemic but also to deliver the most efficient solutions to meet our complex care systems “ says Bernard Kirsch,  president of Angels Santé.

Angels Santé is not only a reference in its field in France but is extremely active on a European cross-border level by operating the EIT Health Investor Network which facilitates co-investments between all the players of the early stage equity scene in Healthcare.

By recently joining EBAN and its healthcare chapter, Angels Santé reaffirms its mission to raise awareness and help agnostic angel networks in creating their own healthcare chapters. This will allow the promotion of their existing dealflow while attracting them to promising opportunities to ensure that bridges are built to overcome investment borders.

 

 

An interview with Tarek El Kady, founder of MED Angels, the business angel network that connects Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East: Watch the full video interview on YouTube

Tell us a few words about yourself and your background.

I founded Techne Summit five years ago and since then I’ve been intrigued by the whole technology ecosystem and by startups. A few years down the road, I started the Alexandria Business Angel Network and grew the network from six investors, up to almost 40, closing around 20 deals, five or six of them syndicated. This led us to think that work needs to be done on deal syndication, trust building and these opportunities in the region.

How did MED Angels start?

It started as an initiative from some core members, including the Alexandria Business Angel Network, as they were leading syndicated deals between more than three Egypt-based Angel Networks. That is how we realized that there was a huge gap in seed funding, not just in Egypt or North Africa, but also in several other countries.

What is MED Angels doing differently?

What we are trying to do is build a trustworthy network where like-minded investors that have the expertise in their industries, of course, but also in angel investing can connect. It provides an opportunity for soft landing, to grow and scale these portfolio companies in several countries. By talking about Mediterranean countries or the Mediterranean Business Angel Network, we’re connecting Europe with Africa and the Middle East.

What is the workflow?

What we usually do with Med Angels is facilitate deal flow and the syndication process. We sometimes receive opportunities that come directly from startups and we redirect those to local angel networks from their countries. Once they decide to close the deal or at least commit to closing a deal, we take that lead from them and circulate it to the rest of the members, so that we can have more networks or more individual angels join the round.

Why focus on the Mediterranean region specifically?

The Mediterranean region is overlooked. A lot of initiatives or networks are focusing on the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, but the intersection of those three was quite intriguing, specifically when these countries or cities that were on the Mediterranean used to have strong relationships a long time ago and trade was one of the things that connected these cities together. As time went by, these strong ties grew weaker instead of growing stronger with technology. So, what we’re trying to do is to connect these cities in a way that can reinforce economic development, based on a trusting relationship that starts from the bottom up.

Who can become a member of MED Angels?

As Med Angels we are not just open for angel networks but have different kinds of memberships: corporate members, accelerators and incubators. We have people who are feeding into the deal flow that we are closing as angels, but we also have people who are receiving the deals, the follow-on funding. We are more or less trying to complete the supply chain between the different stages that startups are involved in. Corporate members benefit from access to the latest innovation in their specific industries.

I’m already in an angel group, why should I join MED Angels?

There are a lot of benefits for members already in angel networks joining the Mediterranean Angels, specifically when we are talking about access to deal flow. If you’re a member from Europe, and you’re looking at opportunities in the Middle East or Africa, this is where you need to go because we have a lot of partners and a lot of members from these different regions  consistently providing us with proprietary deal flow. This is especially interesting to those who are looking to invest in industries that they have good knowledge in but are also interested in expanding their portfolios outside of their region.

Who is supporting MED Angels?

MED Angels is supported by Hivos, who are based in the Netherlands and by GIZ, a branch of the German government; these are our sponsors. We also have several supporters that supported the initiative a year and a half ago, in terms of outreach, motion and spreading the word about what you’re trying to do, and syndication.

 

EBAN members get a special offer:

EBAN members looking to join MED Angels can contact info@test.artmedia.ee for access to the following:

Check out MED Angels’ presentation for more information about their model and membership options. Also also read their latest Roundtable Report.

Apply for Med Angels Membership Here