Former president of Medtronic Asia Pacific sets up fundraising platform matching healthcare startups to medical investors

Chris Lee aims to transform healthcare fundraising through VentureBlick’s fundraising platform and professional community

Chris Lee, one of the most experienced healthcare executives having held senior positions including president of Medtronic Asia Pacific and head of Bayer Healthcare Asia Pacific, today announced his new role as the founder and CEO of VentureBlick, a platform aiming to transform healthcare fundraising by matching healthcare startups with medical investors. Unlike traditional investors, medical investors who join the platform, namely physicians, clinicians, hospital administrators, and healthcare industry professionals with deep domain expertise and user experience, will provide unparalleled value to startups – not just as their investors, but also as their advisors and future customers.

As an early-stage startup aiming for an IPO, VentureBlick is dedicated to helping early-stage healthcare startups get funding, product validation, and market insights from medical investors – their ultimate

customers – through its fundraising platform and professional community. In turn, medical investors get the chance to play an active role in developing the healthcare ecosystem and invest in the latest innovations in healthcare – an area they are most familiar with.

Healthcare startups face unique challenges such as long product development time and high barriers to market access due to quality, regulatory, and clinical requirements. These are in addition to two critical success factors faced by every startup founder: securing funding without losing focus on their product and validating if their product is what customers really want.

VentureBlick’s platform will allow medical investors to systematically evaluate, advise and invest in healthcare startups. Once the startup idea is endorsed by a certain level of medical investors, it will be open to other accredited investors who might not have medical knowledge but are interested in healthcare investment. Its unique fundraising mechanism will enable founders to raise funds without worrying about losing control over their startup, giving them peace of mind. The professional community will also give founders the support they need to develop a product the market really needs. In addition, VentureBlick will partner with a broader group of institutional investors, helping them screen and de-risk startups with its unique model at the early stage before the startups are ready to collaborate with VCs or PEs for later-stage development.

Chris Lee said, “Healthcare startups deserve a more specialized and effective support system because the ecosystem they operate in is very unique. How can we help them get market insights and customer feedback earlier in their journey? Is there a better way to motivate all stakeholders to work together and accelerate innovation? This inspired me to create a platform where startups can meet their future customers so they can nurture new innovations together. After 30 years in the healthcare industry, I see a huge unmet need here and hope VentureBlick can help narrow the gap.”

VentureBlick has a presence in Australia, Korea, Singapore, and the USA. It is in the midst of establishing a presence in China by early next year. Its fundraising platform is targeted to launch in early 2023, and healthcare startups and medical professionals who are interested may pre-register their interest at www.ventureblick.com. In addition, VentureBlick will launch its own venture capital fund, the VB Healthcare Fund, to invest in promising healthcare startups.

Lee has extensive experience across multiple healthcare sectors including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, animal health, diagnostics, and consumer healthcare. He has worked in more than 10 countries, holding senior regional and country leadership roles at Merck (MSD), Bristol Myers Squibb, Bayer, and most recently Medtronic. Lee is among few Asians appointed to Executive Committee positions in both top pharmaceutical and MedTech companies. He has a strong track record across M&As, strategic partnerships, new market expansion, and startup incubation.

Lee is an active advocate of inclusive leadership and workplace happiness. He has won multiple management awards including Most Respected CEO from Great Place to Work for three consecutive years (2020-2022) and Executive of the Year 2021 by Singapore Business Review.