Singapore’s National Healthcare Group launched a $11m biomedical incubator programme earlier this week in collaboration with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and research institute A*Star.
The Co11ab Novena programme is Singapore’s first biomedical technology incubator and aims to help healthcare startups make the leap from research to commercialisation. The incubator provides startups with close proximity to healthcare clinicians, research labs as well as business facilities. It has already accepted seven startups into its programme, including Renectin Antiscar, an RNA-based scar prevention patch.
“The demand for biomedical solutions has gone up during the pandemic, creating the need for a biomedtech incubator like Co11ab to nurture innovation and accelerate the development and commercialisation of such technologies,” Joseph Sung, NTU’s senior vice president said in a statement.
The incubator was unveiled this week by Senior Minister of State for Health, Dr Janil Puthucheary, at NTU Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine’s Novena campus.
Alongside NTU Singapore and A*Star, Co11ab Novena plans to partner with Cornet Ventures, the corporate venture fund of US-based hospital Cedars Sinai Medical Center. Coronet Ventures has previously said it aims to invest in 12 to 15 early-stage healthcare and biomedical science startups in Singapore over the next five years, with cheque sizes of between $100,000 and $3m for businesses at the pre-seed to series A stage.
Founded in 2017, National Healthcare Group is a corporation that improves access to reliable and affordable healthcare coverage in lower and emerging-income markets.