Alexandria Real Estate Equities is looking to grab a slice of the fast-growing digital health market, SFgate is reporting. The real estate firm which helped transform Mission Bay into a thriving life-science hub is looking raise up to $20 million to build digital-health companies from scratch in San Francisco.
Alexandria is apparently already talking to VCs and other companies like insurers looking to invest in this space.Back in August, Alexandria said it would start three new accelerators across the U.S. to support startups in biotech, agriculture and digital health. The biotech space is up and running in New York City with $51 million in financing, while the agriculture gig is expected to open within the next six months in North Carolina.
The digital-health accelerator in San Francisco still doesn’t have a building nor an opening date, but Alexandria is apparently already talking to VCs and other companies like insurers looking to invest in this space.
Ideally, the building would be located in Mission Bay, South of Market or somewhere else in San Francisco. As a real-estate developer, Alexandria would provide the needed infrastructure.
Ideally, the building would be located in Mission Bay, South of Market or somewhere else in San Francisco.“I think it’s clear that the intersection of technology and health care is where the future really is, to make it more efficient, more cost-effective and more accessible,” said Alexandria CEO and founder Joel Marcus.
Marcus said he wants to build a different kind of incubator or accelerator, one that would hire a team of experts in science, business and technology to identify problems and find people to start companies that address those problems. They would be “looking at where the challenges, bottlenecks and opportunities are,” he said, adding, “it’s a little harder to do, but the returns are much better.”
In particular, Alexandria will be focused on areas such as electronic medical records, tools that analyze large medical-data sets, and the ability to allow users to rely on smartphones to access and manage their health care. On the other hand, wearables are not something Marcus is too eager to support.
The digital health industry has raised more than $4 billion in venture capital last year, according to Rock Health.