Why Toniic members invested in the NLC Health Impact Fund
Limited resources, shortage of healthcare professionals and a rising demand for healthcare due to aging populations increase the pressure on hospitals, economies and, above all, patients.
We need to provide for an ever-growing number of patients, optimize diagnosis, treatment and risk prevention. We need to positively impact patients’ lives and advance healthcare systems around the globe. And these challenges are only increasing in the near future.
The solution to these challenges are rooted in innovation, and addressing these needs is one of the greatest market opportunities at this moment.
The world of healthtech innovation is pulsating with potential, offering transformative solutions to longstanding healthcare challenges. Yet, despite this promise, 95% of scientific inventions fail to reach medical specialists and their patients. Significant factors contributing to this issue are the high-risk (and long) road to market, a lack of entrepreneurial talent and the funding gap faced by early-stage healthtech ventures.
NLC Health Ventures
NLC is assessing 1,500 science-backed health innovations per year and building 25 ventures per year
Recognizing this gap, NLC Health Ventures, the world’s largest healthtech venture builder and Europe’s most active early-stage healthcare investor, is finding, building and scaling the next generation of health innovations to transform the lives of patients worldwide. By finding the best technology from the world’s leading universities and medical centers, building start-ups together with experienced entrepreneurs while reducing the risk, and by scaling these with large corporates worldwide, NLC is bringing science to life at scale.
With a diverse team of 80+ healthcare and business experts from over 26 countries, NLC is assessing 1,500 innovations per year and building 25 ventures per year.
To date, NLC has raised 4 funds, with a portfolio of more than 120 ventures built in the areas of biotech, medtech, and digital health. These ventures have collectively raised over €135M and impacted over 247K patients.
The NLC Health Impact Fund
The NLC Health Impact Fund is NLC’s 4th fund. The fund had a first close in June 2023, and also recently received a €6M investment from VGZ, a Dutch-based cooperative healthcare insurer. VGZ and NLC also entered into a strategic partnership to develop and grow impactful, innovative companies in healthcare.
With a target size of €100M, NLC Health Impact Fund will invest in 80–90 ventures of the NLC portfolio, across Europe and the US, and across stages, from pre-seed to Series B, with the potential to allocate up to €9M per company in follow-on financing for the most successful ventures.
NLC has already made 47 investments since the first close of the fund.
Portfolio Examples
StarTric — Democratizing access to cardiovascular disease treatment
StarTric is committed to transforming the treatment of Tricuspid Regurgitation (TR), a severe cardiac condition that affects millions worldwide. StarTric aims to replicate the open-heart surgical Clover technique, very effective but applicable to only a tiny minority of patients, with a minimally invasive device that can avoid the surgical risk and be as effective as the Clover itself.
SERDA Therapeutics — Improved treatments for burns and chronic wounds
SERDA Therapeutics is a leader in developing innovative treatments for severe wound care. With an aging population and increasing diabetes prevalence, effective wound treatment is critical. Traditional debridement methods — surgical, mechanical, and enzymatic — are often painful and inefficient. SERDA’s solution is a hydrogel which offers an enzymatic wound debrider that shows fast speed of debridement, ease of use, high level of stability, and low-moderate irritation potential.
Aerion Bioscience — Non-invasive early lung cancer detection
Aerion Bioscience, is developing a groundbreaking blood test for early lung cancer detection. This non-invasive test analyzes a standard blood sample using a unique 6-protein biomarker panel, aiming to identify lung cancer before symptoms appear. The significance of this innovation is profound. Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, claiming over 1.8 million lives annually. Early detection is crucial, as it dramatically increases survival rates and reduces healthcare costs. Current screening methods like low-dose CT scans are costly and carry radiation risks, while existing blood tests lack accuracy or are prohibitively expensive
Toniic, NLC and the NLC Health Impact Fund
One of the features of Toniic’s Investment Programs is the sourcing of impact investment opportunities from within the Toniic community, as we encourage investors to share funds and deals that they have invested in.
We were first introduced to NLC in 2020 by a Toniic member who invested in NLC’s first fund — Momentum I — and was keen to share other funds from NLC with his peers.
4 Toniic members are investors in NLC and its funds
Toniic and NLC had a first successful collaboration in 2020 about NLC’s second fund— the Stepping Stone Fund — which raised capital from at least one other investor of the Toniic network.
NLC and Toniic collaborated again more recently for the NLC Health Impact Fund. After going through our Investment Programs — which includes onboarding on our investment platform, inclusion in our recurring bi-monthly investor call and a deal summary sent to a targeted list of investors based on their thematic impact preferences — the NLC Health Impact Fund generated interest from new investors, such as the Avalon Hill Management Family Office, who ended up investing in the fund.
Avalon Hill Management:
“We were delighted to invest into the NLC Health Impact fund for a number of reasons. First, high quality VC funds in the health space are relatively rare in Europe, especially when combined with the expertise, depth and strength of the team. Moreover the quality of their process, combined with the business model of truly building companies as a venture builder and then providing access to the portfolio companies gives them an undeniable edge when it comes to both impact and return expectations.”
In total, at least 4 Toniic members are investors in NLC and its funds, including Edmond Hilhorst.
Edmond Hilhorst:
“I’ve been a health tech and impact investor for some 10 years now and have recently invested in NLC. Quite some entrepreneurs in the Health tech scene have been recommending NLC for its ability to match scientific health breakthroughs to entrepreneurs. I was quite skeptical but the results over the last few years proved me wrong. Of course not all ventures are successful but the success rate surpasses my expectations and some great ventures have emerged. I’m curious how this will develop further and want to be part of it.”
About Toniic:
Toniic is a global community of private asset owners seeking to steward wealth and use influence to enable a thriving world. Our members — more than 500 high net-wealth individuals, family offices and foundations from more than 25 countries — are active impact investors and philanthropists, for whom Toniic provides education, investment opportunities, impact support, events, and community. Toniic also seeks to build the field of deep impact investing, moving money and mindsets and leading by example.
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Contact Julien Gafarou, Director of Investment Research if you’d like to learn more about the Toniic membership or to share an investment opportunity.
