Capital Cell moves to Sant Pau to get closer to the digital health sector

Just as the coronavirus has provided an unprecedented boost to teleworking, the pandemic has accelerated many changes in medicine, with a greater commitment to the use of digital means to support hospitals. For the director of Capital Cell, Daniel Oliver, this represents an opportunity for the digital health sector, which has always had difficulties in bringing its innovations to market.

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It is not that the technologies did not exist, but rather that medical centers were reluctant to apply them due to "cultural inertia." Such as, for example, mechanisms to control blood pressure or diabetes from home, or to make phone calls to patients. "Everything that was not done a bit out of laziness has become something that has to be changed no matter what," Oliver emphasizes. In addition, their advantages over some in-person and traditional processes have been evidenced. "There are things that will possibly go back to how they were before, but there are others that have come to stay, those that have proven to be better," he maintains.

Given this context, the online investment platform Capital Cell has decided to move its offices from Barcelona TechCity to the Barcelona Health Hub, an association in the Sant Pau complex whose objective is to promote innovation in digital health and transfer it to the sector, linking startups, health organizations, companies, and investors. "It was logical that we moved to a more specialized place," Oliver explains, locating themselves where the professionals who know most about investing in this sector are.

Reviewing the investments made by the Barcelona-based platform since its creation, Oliver points out that those dedicated to digital health have been very few, with examples such as Methinks and QMENTA. Most of the projects they have supported have focused on the development of drugs and medical devices. Now, they want to promote what was previously a minority. "We want to make a bet on the future," Oliver defends.

Making it easier for everyone to invest in health

Capital Cell was founded in 2015 with the aim of making it possible for everyone to invest in the biotechnology sector, often reserved for a few specialists. Through equity crowdfunding ---a mechanism to finance a company through monetary contributions from a group of investors in exchange for shares---, the investment platform has promoted a digital market where everyone can invest alongside institutions and professional investors, with minimum investments of 100 euros.

To reduce investment risks, Capital Cell selects the best projects and those with the most potential for profitability, with the advice of science and investment experts, and only accepts 3% of the companies that approach them. The platform raised 10.5 million euros for a dozen companies in 2019. This year, it has supported companies such as Cornea Project, Ability Pharma and Methinks. It has partners such as the Institut Català de les Finances (ICF), Acció, Barcelona Activa, the Universitat de Barcelona (UB), CataloniaBio & HealthTech and the Barcelona Tech City, where they have spent their last four years.