Israel is referred to internationally as the Startup Nation. It’s a well-deserved moniker for a country lauded the world over for its entrepreneurial spirit and the brilliance of its cutting-edge inventions and their inventors. Almost not a week goes by when, yet another Israeli startup joins the elite unicorn club, IPOs on Wall Street or NASDAQ, or is bought pre-IPO by a multinational player. And this is not an overnight success; it has evolved for over a quarter-century.
The dynamic nature of Israeli startups in almost every field of science, finance, agriculture, and everything in between has resulted in an extensive ecosystem – venture capital, incubators, accelerators, etc. This ecosystem exists to finance and facilitate these startups, as parties of interest look to gain a foothold at the earliest opportunity in Israel’s next great startups and their groundbreaking technologies.
Against this backdrop, the collaboration between Swiss biotech giant, Roche, and Israel’s largest Healthtech and Life Sciences venture capital fund, aMoon, seems natural. However, what makes it unique and different from any other accelerator program in the country?
StarFinder Lab brings together the extensive healthcare and diagnostics knowledge from across Roche with the knowledge attained about venture building and the future of health that can only be gleaned from partnering closely with dozens of early-stage start-ups and having access to the daily deal flow available to a specialized health tech fund like aMoon. Undoubtedly Roche and aMoon have overlapping fields of expertise; however, they also have unique proficiencies that perfectly complement each other. This combination provides the most comprehensive and supportive ecosystem possible for StarFinder participants to access.
Will participating in the StarFinder program accelerate the startup’s development? We sure intend so. However, our aim is to do so by giving our startups access not only to our financial resources, but more importantly to our unparalleled expertise, venture-building know-how, and design partner capabilities.
Each cohort will only have up to three startups, ensuring intimate guidance, attention, and access to resources. This includes our extensive international networks across healthcare that can facilitate their access to data, securing pilots, and getting in front of potential customers. It also involves our ability to assist teams with bringing top talent, whether to supplement their management team or to their board/advisory board. The intimate and intensive setting of the program also provides an invaluable opportunity for brainstorming and acting as your sounding board, exposing participants to new ideas and applications and devising a game plan to realize them.
StarFinder Lab will go above and beyond to help its startups succeed. Will there be pressure to achieve? Sure. But we know the entrepreneurs we are partnering with will seize the opportunity and thrive in the environment provided.