April 11, 2017 in Sustainability, Latin America, Press Releases
Contact:
Daniel Cossío
daniel.cossio@vilcap.com
+52 1 (55) 8530 5309
(Mexico City, Mexico) – Two health startups, Huli and Metix, were selected by their peers this week to receive $75,000 each in investment from Village Capital and Pomona Impact. The selection marks the end of a three-month investment readiness program, Health Mexico: 2017, run by Village Capital with support from the Autodesk Foundation, as well as the Linked Foundation and SISNova.
The ventures were selected from a pool of the top 11 early-stage health startups committed to increasing access to affordable, quality medical care in Mexico. This was Village Capital’s first health-focused program outside the US and the first investment-readiness program designed specifically for the needs of health ventures working in Mexico.
At the close of the program, Village Capital’s Regional Manager of Latin America shared, “As this was the first time launching a program outside the financial inclusion sector in Latin America, we had little security that there were investable health ventures in Mexico or that we could activate the community to mentor and support the cohort. With 91% entrepreneur satisfaction and participation of about 100 mentors throughout the program, we are now confident that Mexico is a place we need to continue investing in health ventures. The community is hungry for investment and support for entrepreneurs tackling lack of access to quality healthcare in Mexico.”
Reflecting on the partnership, Joe Speicher, Executive Director of Autodesk Foundation shared, “Through our work with Village Capital, we’ve seen that access to healthcare is a major challenge in Mexico but many entrepreneurs are creating bold and innovative solutions. We were proud to support the local healthcare startups designing products, solutions, and experiences that will improve health outcomes across the region. We firmly believe that design can address some of the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges, and that these entrepreneurs—each in their own way—will create a healthier future for their community.”
In the words of Alejandro Vega, founder of peer-selected company Huli, “Village Capital saved me at least six months of time in entering Mexico. Their team connected us to our target customers. Within three weeks of an initial meeting at a Village Capital workshop, we had signed a contract with our first Mexican client!”
The Village Capital program puts entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers and other stakeholders side-by-side, so they can work together to change the state of healthcare in the country. Throughout the program, the entrepreneurs received mentoring from industry experts and potential investors. At the end of the program, the 11 ventures ranked each other in a unique process called peer-selection. The 9 other ventures that participated in the program can be found here.
For more information, contact Daniel Cossío at daniel.cossio@vilcap.com.
ABOUT VILLAGE CAPITAL
Village Capital is a global venture capital firm that discovers, develops, and invests in entrepreneurs solving real-world problems. Since 2009 we have been one of the world’s most active early-stage investors, investing in over 70 ventures across 15 countries and supporting hundreds more through our collaborative investment-readiness programs. Village Capital graduates have leveraged initial capital 25:1, created over 10,000 jobs, and served over 6 million customers. For more information, visit www.vilcap.com and follow @villagecapital on Twitter.
ABOUT AUTODESK FOUNDATION
The Autodesk Foundation supports the design and creation of innovative solutions to the world's most pressing social and environmental challenges. We seek out impact-driven, design-focused organizations—from design studios and academic programs, to social enterprises and startups—and help them scale. We provide funding, software, training, and related support, so these organizations can have the greatest impact possible.
For more information, visit autodesk.org.
ABOUT LINKED FOUNDATION
At the Linked Foundation, we invest technical and financial resources to develop and scale social enterprises that improve the health of communities throughout Latin America. We focus on women, who are important agents of change as health and economic decision-makers. By investing in scalable, market-based solutions, and creating strong cross-sector partnerships, we can ensure long-term, sustained impact.
For more information, please visit linkedfoundation.org.
ABOUT SISNova
SISNova is a private insurance company, specialized in health plans and major medical expenses policy coverage. SISNova was founded in 2003 in Monterrey, Mexico. In June 2015, it was acquired by a new administration of medical professionals, marking a new beginning with no policy-holders. Less than two years later, its over 43,000 policy holders show high a rate of satisfaction, with 99% plan renewal and many stories of patients from sub-urban and rural areas, whose lives were saved with access to private medical services. Our vision is to provide access to quality medical services, compliant with international standards, for all Mexicans who are underserved by the existing healthcare system.
For more information, please visit sisnova.com.mx.
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As Communications Director at Village Capital, Ben works on sharing what we’ve learned from our work in order to amplify our impact and help catalyze the fields of impact investing and entrepreneur support.
