8 Serial Entrepreneurs Building In Health-Tech & Bio-Tech in Europe.
The most impactful companies are built at the frontier, and healthcare is the next-on.
Subscribe: If this newsletter was forwarded to you, subscribe here.
As I dive into the world of health-tech business opportunities, I couldn't help but wonder: What's keeping other serial tech entrepreneurs in Europe busy?
Many successful entrepreneurs create one company and spend their lives scaling it, but for others, one just simply isn’t enough.
I have stumbled upon 8 seasoned entrepreneurs who are making waves in tech-driven healthcare and biotech. Wait, but... tackling healthcare is tough.
As a16z says: Healthcare is HARD. It’s intimidating. It’s regulated. It’s complex. And that’s why it’s so exciting.
This list is in no particular order.
1. Martin Varsavsky
Sector: Fertility
Where: Spain
Martin is an Argentine entrepreneur and philanthropist based in Madrid. With a long trajectory in the telecommunications sector, he has founded companies like Viatel, Jazztel (IPO 1999), Ya.com (acquired by T-Online) , and Fon.
Martin encountered a setback in his life when he and his wife attempted to begin a family. Shortly after their marriage, Nina, who was 31 years old at the time, discovered she was facing infertility challenges. For this reason, in 2015 Martin founded Prelude Fertility/Inception now the largest chain of fertility clinics in the USA. Two years later he also founded Overture Life, focused on automating the embryology lab. Overture is backed by Khosla Ventures, Marc Benioff and Allen & Company.
2. Michael Greve
Sector: Longevity
Where: Germany
Michael is among Germany's most accomplished tech entrepreneurs. He co-founded companies like WEB.DE and lastminute.de and was an early investor in several German unicorns, like Babbel, Staffbase, and Mambu.
He started out Forever Healthy more than a decade ago as a personal quest to shed the extremely unhealthy lifestyle he acquired while building his own startups (this resonates with me). Michael is also the founder of Kizoo Venture Capital. Kizoo’s focus is on the creation, mentoring and financing of rejuvenation biotech startups that turn basic research into therapies for human use.
3. Daniel Ek
Sector: Preventive Health
Where: Sweden
I don’t need to introduce Daniel; I'm certain you've recently tuned into a podcast, enjoyed your favorite music, or perhaps even meditated using Spotify (yes, he’s the founder and CEO).
Daniel’s new venture is Neko Health, a health tech startup, offering a revolutionary approach to preventive healthcare through comprehensive full-body scans supported by AI software. This technology aids doctors in identifying various health issues, such as skin conditions, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes, along with other metabolic syndromes. The company secured €60 million in a Series A funding round, spearheaded by Lakestar, with contributions from Atomico and General Catalyst.
Daniel's investment firm, Prima Materia, has recently placed a strategic investment in a longevity-focused company. It’s invested €10m into Epiterna, a Swiss startup working on slowing ageing.
4. Sokratis Papafloratos
Sector: Men’s Health
Where: UK
Sokratis is a serial entrepreneur who has started, built, and exited. In 2006 he founded TrustedPlaces (Yelp-like local reviews site), acquired by Yell Group in 2010.
In 2018 Sokratis founded Numan.com, a digital health platform dedicated to revolutionizing men's health. Numan offers a digital subscription service for men’s health issues, including hair loss, gut and lung health, sexual health, and nutritional deficiencies. Numan has raised a total of €75m from White Star Capital, with participation from Novator, VNV Global, and Anthemis Exponential.
5. Nils Regge
Sector: Longevity
Where: Germany
Nils is a serial entrepreneur, with six exits since 2009. Some of his most outstanding ventures are: CASAMUNDO acquired by Leisure Group, Finanzcheck exit to Immobilienscout (now Hellman & Friedman) and HomeToGo, Germany's first SPAC IPO.
In 2017 Nils co-founded Apollo Health Ventures, an early stage Venture Capital firm co-founding and investing in healthcare companies targeting age-related diseases and aging itself.
6. Dinko Valerio
Sector: Respiratory Disease
Where: Netherlands
Dinko is a scientist-turned-entrepreneur, in 1993 he founded Crucell (IPO), a biopharmaceutical company specializing in vaccines later acquired by Johnson & Johnson. After working to make Crucell a success, Valerio helped set up the spin-off company Galapagos Genomics, one of the biggest and most successful biotechs in Europe. He also founded the Venture Capital firm Aescap Venture in 2006.
Currently he’s the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Leyden Labs, a company targeting commonalities of respiratory viruses.
7.Greg Bailey
Sector: Longevity
Where: UK
Greg is a physician, financier, and biotech entrepreneur. He was a former managing partner of Palantir Group, Inc., a merchant bank specializing in biotech and intellectual property and he was the initial financier and an independent director of Medivation, Inc. (MDVN:NASDAQ), acquired by Pfizer in 2016. He also led the seed financing of Biohaven Pharmaceuticals Holding Company Ltd. Previously, he founded and financed Ascent Healthcare Solutions, VirnetX Inc. (VHC:AMEX), and SalvaRx Group PLC.
His latest startup is tackling longevity by focusing on how to halt and even reverse the aging process. Juvenescence has already raised $249M and already has 11 products in the works. Ranging from their ketosis product which is already out, to technologies that have proven to regrow limbs in frogs.
8. Steven Bartlett
Sector: Psychedelics, Nutrition, Health Wearables
Where: UK
In 2014 Steven founded the social media marketing agency Social Chain, which went on to become “Social Chain AG” a publicly listed company.
Steven is as a speaker, investor, author, content creator and the host of one of Europe’s biggest podcasts, ‘The Diary of a CEO’. In 2020 he’s also invested in, and taken a role as an advisor in atai life sciences - a biotech company working to cure mental health disorders.
With a special focus on innovative companies in health and nutrition, Steven has recently invested in companies such as Huel, WHOOP, and ZOE.
As we're discussing serial entrepreneurs venturing into health-tech and bio-tech within Europe, let's shift our focus to see what some entrepreneurs across the Atlantic, in the United States, are up to.
Kevin Ryan
Sector: Fertility, Psychedelics, Therapeutics, Healthcare Marketplaces
Where: New York
Often called the “Godfather of NYC tech,” Kevin is one of the leading internet entrepreneurs and investors in America. He has founded several New York–based businesses, including Gilt Groupe, Business Insider, Zola and MongoDB (IPO).
Kevin continues to found and invest in companies through AlleyCorp, a venture capital firm he founded in 2008. Through Alley Corp Kevin has invested in or founded companies such as Nomad Health, Pearl Health, Transcend Therapeutics, Journey Clinical and Maven.
Brian Armstrong
Sector: Longevity
Where: San Francisco, CA
Brian is the co-founder & CEO of Coinbase (IPO). In 2023 he raised $40m for NewLimit, a longevity pharma startup that aims to increase the number of healthy years each person lives by epigenetically reprogramming cells.
Luka Ivicevic
Sector: Longevity
Where: Miami, Florida
Luka is now on his third startup. He started Penta, Germany's largest bank for businesses in 2016 that was later acquired by Qonto in 2022.
Luka’s latest endeavor, Index Health, is a functional medicine startup with a primary focus on promoting wellness and extending longevity. By identifying risky genes, providing personalized care plans, and getting ahead of our DNA, Luka says that he firmly believes it will be possible for this generation to live to be 150 years old.
After listing these serial entrepreneurs, it's pretty obvious they're onto something big. The healthcare setups in the US and Europe are like night and day: America relies a lot on private insurance, while lots of European countries offer universal healthcare, meaning everyone gets treated no matter what. But despite this dichotomy, these entrepreneurs are all working towards helping people live longer and healthier lives.
As I mentioned in one of my earlier newsletters, the idea of living forever has been a longstanding dream for humanity, it seems that we do not want to die. The question is, is this true?
Top 10 longevity sector investments:
P.S. I used some of the following sources to obtain the data for this article:
(1) a16z (2) Linkedin (3) Sifted (4) Business Leader (5) Crunchbase (6) Longevity Technology (7) lifespan.io
Other topics that might pique your interest 💡📍 The Health Wearables Market
Checking my body battery has become a morning ritual for me. Intrigued by the advancements in this industry of Health Wearables, I decided to delve deeper and was blown away by the sheer amount of innovation and capital being invested. 👉 Click here to read the full article.
📍16 Venture Capitalist Backing Microbiome Tech Startups
The Microbiome Tech Investment Landscape 👉 Click here to read the full article.
The contents of this newsletter have the potential to influence those around you. Feel free to share it.
+ Health-Tech innovation is good
