Rock Health – A Model for Funding Health 2.0 Ideas

Although happily being located in the heart of Europe, both Franz and I have spent a decent amount of the time in the US and it’s still great to see the innovation coming out of certain areas across the ocean.

One of the recent additions on the venture capital, incubator and tech funding game has been Rock Health. A pleasent and transparent alternative to chunky venture capital firms or other institutional investors and a self-proclaimed “seed accelerator for health apps”. The Rock Health approach is clear and understandable for people who are not so fundraising-savvy. The program is dedicated to entrepreneurs who want to build applications or products that are dedicated to solving health-related issues.

So if you are a young medical doctor, medical student or any other person who believes in technology and its capability to help improving health, then you should definitively have a look at what the fund offers.

At a glance

• $20,000 startup grant to each team
• Support from the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation and Cincinnati Childrens Hospital
• Mentorship and workshops from experts in design, health policy, lean startup methodology, financing, and more
• Office space in Silicon Valley
• Office hours with startup counsel lawyer Michael Esquivel and legal workshops with the Fenwick team
• PR strategy and resources from Ballou PR
• Support from our in-house staff (medical, branding, social, and strategy)
• A passionate community of like-minded individuals solving meaningful problems

We, at MedCrunch, have been eagerly awaiting such a fund and model. It’s exciting to see people from all walks trying to tackle health with software applications. MedCrunch would seriously encourage, endorse and promote such a fund here in Europe as well, but we are not aware of one (are you?).

Comparable to Rock Health is Y Combinator, an incubation program founded by Paul Graham (who, by the way, has some of the greatest readings on startups, technology and investing on the web) and famous for bringing out some of the most efficient and fastest growing internet startups. Teams are being funded with money, network, office space and all that’s needed for the first several months to build an application. Then they are ideally released into the wild a.k.a. raising their first round of funding to help gain traction.

We’d be intersted in a more in depth look at their funding model, since some questions remain: At what valuations is the fund investing? Which stake of the company are they taking? Is it intended for an intertional audience or solely the Valley?

In any case, we are excited to this addition in the health 2.0 sphere and wish them all the best. We are so excited that eventually Franz and I would love to help build a similar accelerator model and investment vehicle in Europe. We are still far away from Rock Health’s professionalism, but nevertheless we’ve set up a little submission form for your startup, where you can tell us more about your company or idea. At this point in time, we could at least help you with getting some media coverage, hook you up with our network of healthcare, technology or investment professionals or simply listen to your idea over a beer.

SUBMIT YOUR STARTUP