Healthcare big data startup LynxCare raises €1.8m for expansion in Europe

LynxCare, the Belgian big data market leader in healthcare, raises fresh capital for the second time in twelve months. The injection of 1.8 million euros is made by the Venture Capital firm btov Partners in addition to existing investor HERAN Partners. Following an investment of 1.75 million euros in April 2019, this capital increase is intended to further conquer the European market in addition to the expansion of LynxCare in the US.

Healthcare is undergoing a major digital transformation. One of the consequences of this evolution is an ever-increasing quantity of data. It is estimated that 90% of this data is not being used, as its processing is time-consuming and complex.^[1] To assist hospitals and help them evolve towards value-based care and a quality-oriented healthcare system, the big data specialist acts as a partner for hospitals in processing and making their data available in a structured and automatic manner. This is done by using the LynxCare AI platform that offers benefits to patients, physicians, care staff and the hospital as a whole.

A study by McKinsey estimates that big data platforms have the potential to unlock 12-17% of value in healthcare, which is $200B in the EU and $300B in the US.^[2] Contrary to other platforms active in the market, LynxCare is the only one that succeeds in unlocking the unstructured and semi-structured data in a scalable way, which is more than 80% of all healthcare data. The tailored, context-specific algorithms achieve best-in-class accuracies, providing hospitals with reliable data to continuously improve the quality and efficiency of care for their patients.

1.8 million euros to continue growth in Europe and the US

This fresh capital was raised to continue LynxCare’s growth in Europe and the US. The new investment of 1.8 million euros is supported by current investor Annie Vereecken, through her recently established investment fund HERAN Partners focusing on MedTech and Digital Health, and a new investor: btov Partners. The European Venture Capital firm manages assets of 450 million euros and ranks among the 15 most active European VC funds. This investment is made by its 100 million euros Industrial Technologies Fund.

Expansion possibilities

At LynxCare, they are delighted to take this next step in their growth process. Georges De Feu, CEO of LynxCare says: "The excellent match with btov, the European expansion possibilities and the attractive offer have made us seize this opportunity quicker than we could expect."

For LynxCare, this increase in capital also means a boost for their opportunities to continue expanding. “We have been active on the American market for a while and now this investment gives us the means to further conquer the European market. In under a year, we have raised almost 4 million euros and we have a very strong investor consortium, which offers prospects for further investments and new growth steps for LynxCare,” concludes De Feu.

Belgian investment fund

Among the existing investors is the Belgian investment fund HERAN Partners, for which Katleen Vandersmissen, Managing Partner, succeeds Annie Vereecken as a member of LynxCare’s board of directors. Annie Vereecken: “We are happy with the expansion of the consortium and this new step in the growth of LynxCare. This clearly underlines our international ambitions. Furthermore, the transaction is in line with the strategy of the HERAN HealthTech Fund that was recently launched of which LynxCare is one of the 7 existing portfolio companies.”

Strong combination

From the camp of the new investors, enthusiastic voices can be heard as well. Dr. Christian Schütz, partner at btov for healthcare: “We see a great combination of a highly experienced team in the field of machine learning/data mining(NLP) with a strong medical background, good commercial traction and a clear market need for quality of care data analytics and management. The very accurate analysis of unstructured data in the clinical environment is what LynxCare can offer for physicians, hospitals and medical research and what the company stands out for."

Source: LynxCare