On Agust 6, 2013, EmpreenderSaúde, a leading brazilian organization that fosters entrepreneurship and innovation in healthcare, organized an event entitled "New Brazilian Healthcare Entrepreneurs: The face of the rising stars at the healthcare entrepreneurship scene in Brazil ". The objective of the event was to present and discuss the cases of four physicians who are leading new healthcare ventures in Brazil, all of which have been invested by venture capital funds.
The first presenter was Elisangela Araujo from Grupo Fleury, one of the leading brands in Diagnostic Medicine in Brazil, that presented Projeto Dom (www.domgrupofleury.com.br) , an initiative to provide education and support for not-for profit organizations focused on healthcare. The project has started one year ago and has as a differential that the company's directors and the senior management get involved directly with the project, as they act as tutors and give classes during the three day management education course. After the educational training the not for profits are followed by three months and supported in a project that can have a significant impact on the activity that they perform, such as supporting patients and their families, while they are treating their cancer. In the end, the top three institutions win a room decorated to receive the patients and the most welcoming way possible.
The second presenter was Fernando Fernandes, who is a general surgeon and who is a serial healthcare entrepreneur in Brazil, having been one of the co-founders of Athom, a Chronic disease management company, that was latter acquired by Qualicorp, a brazilian company invested by Carlyle.
Fernando Fernandes presented Saútil (www.sautil.com.br) a business model focused to provide more information about the public healthcare system through the internet, because although 75% of the brazilian population uses the public healthcare system as its primary healthcare provider, there is not much information for the public system patients on the web. Therefore, patients have many rights, but a very difficult way to have their rights fulfilled, as many time it's not clear where should one go to get a special medicine, or where a certain vaccine is available.
The third presenter was Fábio Katayama, a physician graduated at University of São Paulo, one of the leading medical universities in Brazil and who has done Harvard MBA. After his MBA graduation he worked for a year at Booz & Co and for a year worked as a partner at Vida Bem Vinda, a business model focused to delivering infertility treatment for the middle of the pyramid. His current business is Natue (www.natue.com.br), an e-commerces that sells healthy food throughout Brazil. The company has received a seed money initially and now has received USD 8 million from a german investor and has been growing 40% per month for the past six months, when its operations started.
The fourth presenter was Daniel Branco, a neurologist who did his post-doctorate in the US and then decided to get a Wharton MBA. Upon his graduation he worked for a year at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, one of Brazil's top hospital institutions, and then decided to be an entrepreneur one more time and open DM Branco ( www.dmbranco.com.br), a healthcare consulting firm, that has worked for major investment banks and ventures capital funds in Brazil. In 2012, he and Monashees, a leading venture capital fund in Brazil, decided to invest on Medicinia (www.medicinia.com.br), a website focused to provide the necessary resources for physicians to follow-up interacting with their patients in a structured and safe environment.
We consider that this kind of event is very important for the brazilian healthcare startup scene, as there are not many Brazilian entrepreneurs today that have a strong background on both healthcare and business and that makes the all difference when you want to lead a highly successful healthcare startup. In addition, there are not many venture capital firms willing to invest on healthcare in Brazil, due to lack of experience or lack of strongentrepreneurs who know the field and that can really make a difference on the sector.
Author: EmpreenderSaúde Team, 08/14/2013
