Medicine + IT = profitable business
7 Ways to Make Money on the Biotech Boom without Investing Hundreds of Millions
Biotechnology, especially in the medical field, is considered to be one of the most promising areas for investment. However, a full–fledged biomedical startup (for example, the creation of a new drug) requires very large expenditures - both monetary and temporary. In Russia, with its undeveloped investment infrastructure, it is very difficult to launch such a project, the account of actually operating startups goes to units.
On the other hand, the Internet is developing very rapidly in our country, according to Fast Lane Ventures, the total volume of investments in Internet companies at the seed stage of investment in 2011 increased 2.4 times compared to the previous year and amounted to an impressive figure of $ 540 million. Moreover, Internet startups at the initial stages do not require large investments.
The conclusion is obvious: if you don't have millions for a new drug, you can try to combine two promising trends and offer additional IT services to the medical market.
In Russia, this direction has been actively developing recently. We give a brief overview of what has already been done. Perhaps it will give you new ideas or help you discover an unoccupied niche.
NormaSaharNormaSakhar is an online service for diabetic patients and endocrinologists.
The project was founded in October 2011 by doctor and entrepreneur Alexander Podgrebelny. The first investment of $ 100,000 was received from the "Glavstart" Arkady Moreynis. At the beginning of the year, the startup raised another $50,000 from the Microsoft seed funding fund. It is assumed that patients will pay for remote consultations of doctors – on a one-time basis and by subscription. The cost of such a consultation will be lower than usual in the clinic, the NormaSahar commission will be 50%.
VitaPortalThe VitaPortal medical resource provides access to information on medicine and pharmaceuticals for the widest audience.
According to Synovate Comcon's HealthIndex survey for the 2nd quarter of 2011, medical topics are among the five most frequent requests on the Internet, second only to weather, music, video and entertainment. Analyzing the statistics, the researchers note that "one gets the impression that the search for information about health and medicine is rather entertaining." Websites about a healthy lifestyle and proper nutrition are the most popular sources of information. VitaPortal's materials are checked by doctors before publication. The project tells visitors about individual diseases, but does not advise them on specific cases, urging them to seek help from a doctor.
VitaPortal started its work in May 2011 under the auspices of Fast Lane Ventures. Entrepreneur Azamat Ulbashev became the founder and CEO. The supervisory board of the resource is headed by the "godmother" of the Russian Internet, Esther Dyson. The concept of monetization is based on advertising and sponsorship from manufacturers of medicines and health products. Initial investments in the company amounted to more than $1 million.
Life ButtonThe medical alarm system "Life Button" helps the elderly and people with disabilities to call for emergency help.
Two variants of kits are offered: the first consists of a phone with an SOS button and GPS location detection, which is connected to a round-the–clock call center with doctors as operators, the second is a special bracelet with the same button, a drop sensor and a hands-free system. The cost of the kit is from 4760 rubles, followed by a subscription fee of 580 rubles per month. The list of additional services includes a verification call, the departure of a social worker or a doctor with keys, the departure of a paid ambulance and a medical reference.
The silver medalist of the Forbes startup contest "Button of Life" is a 2010 educational project of two graduates of the Skolkovo School of Management Dmitry Yurchenko and Irina Linnik. After the end of the competition, it became known that the project managed to attract 35 million rubles from the system integrator in the healthcare industry RINTECH, part of the IT group of companies. Since March 2012, phones with a "Life Button" have been sold in fifty MTS communication salons instead of the starting five.
Med-Room.comProject from Novosibirsk Med-Room.com copies the business model of two successful foreign analogues at once – the electronic registry and the service in comparison of medical services.
The test version of the site offers to find the nearest private clinic or doctor, compare the cost of services and make an appointment at a convenient time. The company operates only in the field of commercial medicine: 60% – dental clinics, 15% – multidisciplinary institutions, growth potential – up to 400 private clinics only in their hometown.
The founders of Med-Room Alexey and Olga Makarov have plans to conquer the Russian cities of millions, and then the neighboring countries. In order to return the funds spent on advertising promotion and achieve self-sufficiency, one large city will not do, but the niche is empty. The project is supposed to be monetized through a relatively small commission for attracted patients without a subscription fee. Private individuals act as investors. In March 2012, the project was accredited as a resident of the Novosibirsk Akademgorodok Technopark.
Doctor at work and Doctors of the Russian FederationThe Doctor at Work company was founded in October 2009 by endocrinologist Andrey Perfiliev and MGIMO graduate Stanislav Sazhin.
In June 2012, it became known that the Bright Capital Digital fund invested $ 1 million in a fast-growing startup. The fund, which invests in Internet projects, is managed by Bright Capital, founded by Mikhail Abyzov, a billionaire and Minister for Relations with the open government. To date, almost 90,000 specialists have joined the community. With 57,000 users and an information base of about 300,000 doctors, it is followed by the resident of the Skolkovo Foundation "Doctors of the Russian Federation", created in August 2011 with the support of the radar group publishing drug reference books.
Doctor's WorldThe medical portal "Doctor's World" is similar to a social network for doctors as a twin brother, but it disowns such kinship.
Unlike networks, the project has added tools for the work of a doctor – interactive medical calculators, data on clinical trials, a database of medicines and clinical recommendations. The company is going to create a single platform for continuous communication throughout the entire workflow – from R&D to post-marketing research of medicines. A new strategic partner, the Japanese company M3, Inc., will help her in this. Japanese-owned Internet projects for doctors m3.com (Japan) and doctors.net.uk (Great Britain) are leading in their niches in terms of the number of registered users (70% of the total number of doctors in each of the countries), and M3 is also conducting similar projects in the USA and South Korea. Relying on the international competencies of M3, the World of the Doctor is going to offer global pharmaceutical companies the same functionality as other countries.
The project was founded last year and is headed as CEO by Setaro Yamamoto, a former employee of the Japanese Embassy and principal of the consulting company Booz & Co. In June 2012, UMJ Russia Fund, the only Japanese venture fund in the Russian Federation, acquired control of the startup for $1.4 million. A former colleague at the embassy, Yusuke Otsubo, the fund's managing partner, decided to invest in the company. MIRVRACHA's clients include two pharmaceutical companies and one medical service company. The site includes the Orphamir project, dedicated to orphan (rare) diseases, which is funded by Genzyme, a member of the Sanofi-Aventis group.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru31.08.2012