The Luxembourg Institute of Health and Catalpa Ventures will support digital health innovation by bridging scientific research and venture capital.
Lena Mårtensson
On 27 February 2024, the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) and Catalpa Ventures announced that they have signed a five-year collaboration agreement aimed at boosting digital health innovation. The partnership is aimed at facilitating the transformation of research into marketable healthcare solutions.
Venture capital firm Catalpa Ventures focuses exclusively on technology-driven solutions to enhance human health. It invests in early-stage technology companies revolutionising healthcare and recently opened its headquarters in Luxembourg.
Due to our positive experiences with Luxembourg as entrepreneurs ourselves we look forward to being the reliable partner for the dynamically growing ecosystem for healthtech startups.
“When determining where to initiate our VC activities, choosing Luxembourg was a logical decision for us,” explained Dr Thomas Goergen, one of the founding partners of Catalpa Ventures. “Due to our positive experiences with Luxembourg as entrepreneurs ourselves we look forward to being the reliable partner for the dynamically growing ecosystem for healthtech startups. This entails not only supporting ambitious Luxembourgish companies but also attracting healthtech firms from Europe and beyond to utilize Luxembourg as their launchpad for international scaling.”
Luxembourg’s commitment to fostering healthtech innovation, supported by governmental initiatives and research institutions like the LIH, positions the country as a hub for translational e-health. Catalpa Ventures, recognising this potential, aims to play a pivotal role by establishing a venture capital fund specializing in healthtech startups. By combining the LIH’s scientific expertise and Catalpa’s venture capital activities, the partnership will offer startups unique added value with specialised insights, guidance, and support from LIH’s scientific community, potentially setting them apart in the competitive landscape and encouraging innovation within the healthcare sector.
This will ensure that our scientific findings are marketable and can be translated into tangible healthcare solutions, easily accessible by clinicians and patients.
“We believe that the numerous opportunities for knowledge transfer arising from this partnership and the availability of Catalpa’s financial and investment expertise to our researchers will create a bridge between research and its commercialisation,” commented Ulf Nehrbass, CEO of LIH. “This will ensure that our scientific findings are marketable and can be translated into tangible healthcare solutions, easily accessible by clinicians and patients.”
Photo credits: Luxembourg Institute of Health
