CHF50 million for diabetes ventures

Diabetes is one of the most common diseases of our time and a key driver for the increase in healthcare expenditures in the years to come. The market for diabetes care devices alone is expected to reach over $40 billion by 2025. The Swiss Diabetes Venture Fund (SDVF) will support ventures to tap into this huge market. The teams of the Diabetes Center Berne (DCB) and SSUG have already started the scouting and evaluation process.

The fund will benefit from the skills, networks and levers of its three General Partners: Simon Michel who will bring his experience as CEO of the Ypsomed Group, Derek Brandt as CEO of the DCB and founder former CEO of Sensile Medical (sold to Gerresheimer for EUR 350m) with his global reach in the diabetes ecosystem, and Mike Baur, CEO of Swiss Startup Group. The fund will be managed by the investment arm of the SSUG.

“Over the past few years a true diabetes-technology-hub has emerged in the Berne area in Switzerland. This eco-system profits not only from companies like Ypsomed, but also from strong partnerships with common goals. Teaming up with the world-renowned diabetes clinic UDEM at the Insel Bern University Hospital, the sitem-insel translational center that enables faster translation from bench to bed into clinical trials, the Diabetes Center Berne is in an excellent position to scout diabetes technology startups and support them in the translation from bed to market. And for this purpose we build the SDVF”, comments Simon Michel on the establishment of the dedicated fund.

“We are proud to officially launch the Swiss Diabetes Venture Fund as the first themed fund in our multi venture fund strategy announced past February,” said Mike Baur, CEO of SSUG. The fund is still open to further investors. Minimal ticket size is CHF250k.

“Diabetes is a fast-evolving, global challenge and there is a strong need especially for new diabetes technologies that help people with diabetes in their daily life. With this dedicated fund we want to give those ventures an opportunity to grow their technologies and solutions and help closing the gaps we observe in the research”, added Derek Brandt, CEO of the DCB.

The Diabetes Center Berne Foundation is a private, independent foundation, established in 2017. It helps research projects and entrepreneurial ideas by providing projects around the world with expertise, access to clinical research facilities as well as its own laboratories and workspaces, as well as financial resources. It is located at the sitem on the Insel Campus in the Swiss capital Berne. The DCB works in close scientific partnership with the Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology, Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism of Bern University Hospital (UDEM), a university hospital with a stellar international reputation in the field of diabetes technology.

This May DCB launched an open innovation challenge for ideas in the field of glucose management. Up to 50 projects from all over the world will be selected and supported by industry experts in transforming their ideas into solutions. The winning project will receive USD 100’000. Submission closes on 30 June 2021.