The grey area between corporate venturing and venture philanthropy has blurred more after Israel-based medical technology company EarlySense raised $13m in its third round of funding.
Venture philanthropy is a developing area of finance where charitable giving is about more than donating money but also time and other resources to help recipients longer-term. Two of the largest philanthropic foundations, Denmark’s Novo and UK-based Wellcome Trust, were part of the top 75 most influential healthcare corporate venturing units because of their approach to the area, according to Global Corporate Venturing.
Two of the investors in EarlySense are Docor International Management, a subsidiary of the Van Leer Group Foundation that promotes commercial activities in Israel, and Noaber Foundation, a Netherlands-based charitable organization to improve people’s quality of life.
The other investors are traditional Israel-focused venture capital firms:
Pitango Venture Capital, which led the round, Etgar Challenge Fund, Proseed Venture Capital Fund and Bridge Investment Fund.
Bridge invests in Israeli medical device companies with strong synergies with the leading health care institutions and industries in Cleveland, US, and last year EarlySense agreed to move from Israel to Ohio and partner with a corporate venturing backer there, Catholic Healthcare West.
EarlySense previously raised $11m, including a $3m seed round in October 2006.
The company makes a contact-free patient supervision system installed underneath a hospital bed mattress with no leads or cuffs to connect to the patient.
The company was an early backer of Continua Health Alliance, Intel Corporation’s global healthcare venture to develop guidelines and technological standards for medical devices.