The Estonian Health Tech Week brought together health and biotech startups, investors, and community members.
Sigvards Krongorns, an ex-health tech founder turned investor from Verge HealthTech Fund, mentioned in his keynote that healthcare is coming to a golden age. People are still getting older and lack access to quality healthcare and the only way forward is technology.
The following panel discussion was led by Erki Mölder from Health Founders Estonia. Our panelists Katrina Laks from Migrevention, Sigvards, Tõnu Esko from University of Tartu, Priit Salumaa from Better Medicine went through a yes-no question round of many intriguing statements.
What emerged from the discussion was that Estonia is a good place to start but many investors won’t get any big returns since the market is small. Since every market has its fuckups it may be a good idea to start already from bigger markets. Estonia still is and will be a good testbed.
Every panelist agreed that most VC-s and angel investors don’t understand the healthcare sector and are not ready to accept the risks + Estonia needs more health tech investors!
Also, ministries have different levels of understanding and supporting the healthcare sector but overall they need to do better. There should be a more efficient use of the capital to have more impact. More collaboration and dialogue are needed to increase the understanding of the healthcare and health tech sectors.
As we concluded, everyone agreed there was a next founder of a deeptech health tech unicorn in the room. So keep an eye on the Estonian health tech scene!
The event was co-hosted by Tartu Biotechnology Park, Sparkup Tartu Science Park, Startup Estonia, and of course Estonian Business Angels Network (EstBAN).
