Digital Health in Israel

Israel is one of the global hubs of digital medicine. These are:

• more than 850 startups in the field of health;

• a unique, fully digitalized healthcare system;

• strong fundamental science;

• innovation middles and R&D centers of international corporations;

• support for startups from the state and non-state companies in the form of various programs.

Is it not for nothing that Israel is considered a cult place for start-up entrepreneurs? What examples of their best digital health startups may be inspiring? Read the material!

Digital Health as an Industry

The basis of digital health in Israel as an industry is patients’ electronic medical records, which have existed for over 25 years. This is an aggregation of medical data in four health insurance companies that serve the entire population of Israel — 9.5 million people: information about each member of the health insurance fund throughout life, test results, diagnoses, drug sensitivities, and all essential information. Health insurance companies and large hospitals are working closely with startups, entrepreneurs, and scientists to create collaborative digital health solutions based on data analysis using artificial intelligence.

The explosive growth in global investment in the sector has been driven by mega-rounds (over $100 million) and companies developing solutions for patients. In Israel, digital medicine, like the high-tech sector, offers b2b solutions primarily — 75% of startups sell it.

Israel VS Pandemic: a Story of Success

Israel’s attraction to develop and implement digital health technologies was strong even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical technology has been among the sectors that have benefited the most from the pandemic and the onset of the so-called new normal. Corona has saved some segments of digital medicine up to 10 years on their way to market. Some technologies have existed for many years but have not been widely used due to a lack of regulation and insurance coverage, unpreparedness, and distrust of doctors and patients. And now the pandemic has turned these solutions from nice to have to must have.

The public and private investment sectors were very interested in the efficient delivery of health services. This included telemedicine solutions, artificial intelligence-based monitoring solutions (such as a monitoring system that predicts respiratory complications in patients admitted to the intensive care unit), and digital process automation. Home diagnostic devices connected to the Internet allowed patients who could not get to the doctor in the clinic to be in constant contact with him.

In addition, a highly developed research infrastructure has made it possible to study a large amount of data on the results of the national vaccination program. This has resulted in millions of people being vaccinated in a brief period. This thriving experience was accepted as a basis by the world medical community.

They are the Most Promising in Digital Health

In Israel, there are 350 R&D centers of global technology giants, from which many serial entrepreneurs come out with several start-ups behind them. Let’s consider examples of companies that, thanks to such interaction, managed to make a statement not only on the Israeli market and reach confident heights.

K Health

“K Health,” a telemedicine platform, is a digital health unicorn that appeared in Israel during the “corona.” It announced in January that it had raised $132 million in its E funding round, valuing the company at $1.4 billion. In total, the team has raised $274 million since its inception. The company has developed a system that, using artificial intelligence, can make the most accurate diagnosis remotely through a mobile application based on past patient data. The project began as a chatbot for assessing symptoms and making a likely diagnosis based on the medical data of the Maccabi Health Insurance Fund, the second largest in Israel (2.4 million members), which they have been accumulating over the past 25 years.

Now “K Health” has already entered the American market: they work with “Anthem,” one of the largest health insurance companies in the U.S. (they have more than 43 million insured). They also received an investment from “Anthem” and worked with their employees and clients. Doctors in several states are paid a salary for always being online, and clients can contact them anytime.

OrCam

“OrCam” has created “smart” glasses — a mini-camera attached to glasses that helps blind or visually impaired people to read and recognize people. The company had an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021, hoping to raise $300 million, and was valued at $3 billion.

DiA Imaging Analysis

DiA Imaging Analysis is a top provider of cutting-edge AI-based solutions for ultrasound study. The company’s software allows users to determine clinical symptoms and anomalies accurately. The company’s LVivo creation string for cardiac and abdominal computerized investigation lets clinicians with different levels of ultrasound background explore images on their ultrasound apparatuses or healthcare IT systems with improved rate, efficiency, and exactness.
The company has extended at least $19 million from such companies, as Connecticut Innovations, Downing Ventures, DEFTA Partners, XTX Ventures, Philips, etc. DiA Imaging Analysis presents seven FDA-cleared creations and associations with 11 greatest channels, among them — GE Healthcare, IBM Watson, and Philips.

Sweetch

The portative healthiness platform from Tel Aviv Sweetch expands patient keeping across various elements of disease management and enhances clinical results for people with chronic ailments. Sweetch is the foremost to blend artificial intelligence and emotional one to know patients’ real-life demeanor habits and optimize engagement. The company offers a platform based on AI that seeks to recognize those at increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

The technology of Just-in-Time-Adaptive-Intervention (JITAI) transforms millions of data issues from someone’s phone or related devices into hyper-personalized submissions in just the proper manner, term, and real-time context to catalyze behavior shift as part of their everyday practice.

Lumen

Lumen is a handheld gadget to count metabolism accurately. The firm operates a CO2 detector and flow meter to pick the CO2 concentration in a breath in a minute. This suggests the kind of fuel your body is utilizing to produce energy. Lumen also performs as a virtual nutritionist, supplying dietary and exercise guidance founded on the user’s metabolism.

As CB Insights says, the organization has raised $16 million in grants from institutions like Softbank Ventures Asia and Legend Capital.

Funds & Investors

There are active and interested investors in Israel. The key ones specializing in digital medicine are, on average, 10-15, and the total number of funds invested more than once in the sector is about 150.

The largest and most active fund in Israel specializing in health tech is “aMoon,” which has $750 million in management. They invest both in Israel and in other countries in start-ups at different stages.

There is a “Triventures” fund. They are interested in working with Sheba Hospital — the largest hospital in Israel and the Middle East, which is in the top 10 hospitals in the world. In Sheba, the ARC Innovation Center is organized — a center for medical technologies, a kind of accelerator, where dozens of startups sit that work on Sheba’s infrastructure, gaining access to data and medical expertise. Some of these startups are already working with Sheba for real — based on commercial agreements. This is a very telling example of how hospitals are converging with innovation. The “Triventures” fund, together with ARC, created an additional fund, which became the venture arm of ARC. That is, on the one hand, a professional fund that provides all its expertise in digital health venture financing; on the other hand, a hospital with its database, infrastructure, doctors who can be mentors, etc. So far, this is working well. Other hospitals are also launching innovative platforms.

“Pitango Healthcare” is also worth noting. “Pitango” is one of the oldest and most prominent Israeli venture capital funds; it has existed since the beginning of the venture capital industry and has invested in medicine for many years. In 2020, they allocated a special fund to invest in medicine and healthcare — in various companies at different stages and raised $ 150 million. As you can see, a promising startup in Israel, which understands who it can sell, to whom it is essential, and whether it is necessary, can draw attention to itself.

What are the Trends and the Near Future?

Israel has selected 19 applications for a new digital health initiative to enable healthcare organizations such as HMOs, hospitals, and institutes to build the digital infrastructure needed to share data anonymously and collaborate on research and development with healthcare industry startups. Funding for the three-year NIS 100 million (about $30 million) initiative comes from the budget of the National Digital Health Plan, which is currently held by the Ministry of Economy, as well as the Ministry of Health and the Israel Innovation Authority.

The program is expected to “significantly expand the range and quality of partnerships with companies and startups while meeting the needs for innovative research and development in the field,” the Israel Innovation Authority said in a statement on Monday. Selected programs received an initial grant of 40 million NIS (almost $12 million) per year and can reapply next year for further funding for up to three years.

Below are some of the critical technologies that are creating new opportunities for digital health and digital medicine:

• sensor technologies that facilitate detection at the nanolevel, as well as various non-invasive methods;

• AI and machine learning technologies are useful both for research aimed at finding treatment and diagnostic solutions that will improve predictive medicine and personalized medicine and for the development of decision support systems for doctors and other healthcare workers and workflow;

• high-speed and broadband sophisticated telecommunications systems useful for both telemedicine and remote care;

• advanced computer vision technologies that, together with artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, improve the interpretation of various medical imaging devices and are currently used as physician decision support tools.

So: What’s the Secret?

Israel is renowned for its highly functional healthcare technology and biotech ecosystems that are constantly evolving. There is always a search for innovative cooperation with large companies, industry, and government, which is very interesting. What is the secret of this? They are proud of it, and there is a lot of investment in this area because the money helps with licensing and promotion. Stakeholders always seek partnerships between investors and startups to grow and improve the entire digital ecosystem. Having different perspectives and investors from other sectors is also vital for success. Israel is where technical data, algorithms, and market-savvy investors converge.