Gütersloh / Heidelberg, November 17, 2022 – Bertelsmann Investments has acquired shares in PAICON, a Heidelberg-based digital health start-up. Other fellow shareholders include the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). The investment is in the mid-seven-digit range.
Peter Koop, Senior Vice President Bertelsmann Investments, commented: “We are very pleased that we were able to make another investment in the field of Digital Health with our participation in PAICON. We will be investing even more in this area as part of our Bertelsmann Next initiative, and will continue to build and grow the promising Digital Health business segment for Bertelsmann.”
Manasi Aichmüller-Ratnaparkhe, Co-Founder and Managing Director of PAICON, said: „Bertelsmann Investments’ participation in our young company enables us to continue developing our digital solutions for the medical and pharmaceutical industries. We are convinced that our health intelligence platform offers great added value for doctors and researchers in medicine.”
PAICON supports physicians in researching and launching products that sustainably improve the healthcare system. This is done by combining a privacy-compliant health intelligence platform with extensive treatment-specific knowledge. Artificial intelligence and international data sources are used to create marketable certified medical products and digital health applications.
Bertelsmann Investments (BI), Bertelsmann’s global venture capital arm, comprises four funds: Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI), Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), Bertelsmann Brazil Investments (BBI), and Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI). BI also participates in selected funds, e.g. in Southeast Asia and Africa. The Bertelsmann Next division drives the entrepreneurial development of new growth sectors and business areas, including digital health, with a focus on the U.S. market. To date, around €1.5 billion has been invested in more than 400 innovative companies and funds through Bertelsmann Investments. Bertelsmann Investments (BI) is expanding its start-up and fund network to over 300 active investments.
PAICON was founded by physicians and researchers with the goal of creating a digitized environment that fosters entrepreneurship, global collaboration, and the development of certified medical products and applications, especially in the academic and healthcare sectors. PAICON simplifies processes and enables medical researchers to focus on their shared passion – improving people’s lives through data.