MAY 2022LIFE SCIENCES REVIEW 19he last few months have created unimaginable changes in our world. HAX, with our largest hub located in Shenzhen, saw the earliest effects of COVID-19 in January. What began with uncertainty, rapidly led to lock-downs and isolation for our staff. There is no question that tough times are ahead, but at least for now, we have some hope for the global situation as Shenzhen begins its return to a new normal. HAX is an accelerator backed by a Venture Capital Fund, SOSV, which predominantly invests in Hardware (through HAX) and Life Sciences (through Indie Bio). We invest in early-stage technology companies across a range of different industry verticals. At HAX, our first cheque into a company will be ~$250k then increase up to $1m in subsequent rounds. We specialize in accelerating R&D using the Shenzhen ecosystem and our full-stack engineering resource. The biggest market we invest in is healthcare. There will be many start-ups that don't make it through these tough times ahead, but just as many (if not more) are fighting to keep up with the massive new opportunities were ahead of them. We see some amazing opportunities here to impact the struggling healthcare system and continue to provide healthcare assistance. HAX is evolving rapidly to get ahead of COVID-19. Our investments are evolving too. COVID-19 is no longer a crisis in China; hopefully, the same will be true in the rest of the world soon. However, we anticipate it will continue to affect the future of healthcare, work, entertainment, travel, and education for some time. Most importantly, we have been given a wake-up call to pandemics, and we can now prepare for the next one. Digital Health, in Particular, Remote Rehabilitation, Can Help COVID-19 has pushed the healthcare system in every country to the point of breaking. While flattening the curve is proving to help the situation, until there is a vaccine (or a treatment), there will be a continued burden. "It's no longer about keeping the doctor away; it's about keeping away from the hospital." A recently published points system, designed to help doctors decide priorities for a ventilator in the event of a shortage, gives us a morbid insight into priorities for innovation in remote healthcare. It is not just the elderly that should keep away from hospitals, also those that have Asthma and other respiratory illnesses, coronary health issues, diabetes, and impaired immune system.Our sister accelerator, IndieBio, has done a fantastic job of mobilizing to create quick test-kits such as CASPR (caspr.bio) under a unique COVID-19 accelerator program ENCOURAGING INNOVATION IN HEALTHCARE IN A COVID-19 WORLDDuncan TurnerBy Duncan Turner, General Partner, SOSV, Managing Director, HAXCXO INSIGHTST
< Page 9 | Page 11 >