Finland is seeing a hype surging in healthtech and healthcare data. There are hundreds of startups developing health technology and international venture capitalists are actively searching for the next superstars. In this video Tero Silvola, CEO of BC Platforms, tells about the rapidly growing markets in health technology and the preconditions for international business. BC Platforms is a pioneer in bioinformatics management and provides software products utilizing genomic data for medicine industry and healthcare.
Individualised healthcare is an international megatrend that will have a profound effect on people’s wellbeing. In the future, it will be possible to plan the prevention and treatment of diseases for a specific individual, based on genomic data. In addition, more precise diagnoses and development of more effective and safe medicines become possible by utilizing genomic data.
BC Platforms (BC = Biocomputing) has a strong scientific heritage underpinned for 18 years of working in close collaboration with a network of leading researchers, developers, manufacturers and vendors. Conquering international markets has been a clear objective of BC Platforms from the very beginning. BC Platforms’ vision is to provide, besides its technology, the world’s leading analytics platform for healthcare and industry, with access by 2020 to over 5 million subjects’ anonymized genomic and clinical data. The samples have been consolidated from a global network of biobanks.
BC Platforms raised 9 million euros on financing round
Health technology is currently one of the fastest growing sectors in the business world. Especially international venture capital companies are interested in PC Platforms as an investment.
– The market for software development, based on genetics and human DNA, started to open up swiftly about ten years ago. Our main market areas are the United States and North America, where the potential of the industry has already been widely recognized. Finland could now have an excellent opportunity to profile itself as a pioneer in this market. Finland consolidates digital patient registers, reliable bio banks and good competence for utilizing genomics, which are important for our operations, but finding funding partners with proper understanding of this industry has been challenging here, Tero Silvola explains.
BC Platforms, in collaboration with the Swiss Debiopharm Innovation Fund and Tesi, succeeded in raising a growth capital of 9 million euros last year. The investment round was participated also by BC Platforms’ existing investors.
Tero Silvola
- Who: CEO and Member of the Board at BC Platforms since 2013. Founder and CEO of Riverpark Oy Company. Board Member of BCB Medical and Bone Index Finland.
- Born in 1971.
- Education: MSc. Econ.
- Core competencies: Expertise in growth strategies in healthcare and technology industry, developing of financing, business management and financial administration.
BC Platforms
- What: Established in 1997, the company produces genomic data management solutions to address some of the biggest healthcare challenges today.
- Where: R&D units in Helsinki and sales & marketing units in Basel, London, Boston and Vancouver.
- Owners: Debiopharm Innovation Fund SA and Tesi, among others.
- Website: bcplatforms.com
Learn more about the growth potential of health technology from an investor perspective on Tesi’s Annual Review.
Read more on Joni Karsikas’ blog post: The Supercells of healthcare.