“Covid-19 is the new normal and remote healthcare will be booming”
Survey: Covid-19 has had a positive impact on Finnish companies with health tech solutions
Majority of Finnish companies and startups with solutions to Covid-19 crisis have seen a positive impact in their business this spring. Most of them also see the post-Covid-19 future as bright.
Health Capital Helsinki conducted a survey among Finnish small and medium-sized companies with solutions to Covid-19 in May-June 2020. The questionnaire was sent to 57 companies on the list of Finnish Covid-19-related health tech innovation, of which 30 companies responded. Most of the companies have solutions aimed at healthcare providers, some directly to consumers.
Key findings of the survey
1. Covid-19 has had a positive impact on most companies
Majority of the companies (53%) reported that Covid-19 has had a positive impact on their business. Demand has grown drastically especially in fields of remote healthcare and diagnostics, but requests and sales have increased also for other digital health services. A third of the companies (37%) have made new recruitments this spring, and a majority (77%) comments that the financial runway has either increased or stayed the same.
“We provide solutions for digital services in health care, rehabilitation and social care, so corona crisis caused a quick growth in new customers. Also many of our existing customers expanded their digital and remote services.” –Movendos
A third of the companies reported a negative impact, and 17% companies a neutral impact. Many companies describe that projects have been postponed due to healthcare customers’ lack of time and resources to make decisions, and some also due to travel and meeting restrictions.
“Some of our discussions with potential customers were put on hold by the customer, while some others emerged due to Covid-19.” –Healthzilla
2. Shift in long-term strategy has been needed
Covid-19 has had an impact on the long-term business strategy for 40% of the companies. The pandemic has brought about e.g. new needs from existing customers, new customers and opportunities to scale the business.
“Bringing lots of revenues and speeding-up the growth. Also affecting long and short term product development plans.” –Abacus Diagnostica
“New players have surfaced on the market and this has made us re-think our offering and strategic direction.” –MUMO Care
3. A strong positive drive towards the future
Nearly all companies are foreseeing a positive future. Covid-19 has made healthcare systems aware of the benefits of digital and remote healthcare solutions, which makes health technology as one of the fields of opportunities in the future.
“Covid-19 is the new normal and remote healthcare services for patients with chronic disease will be booming.” –Cardiolyse
“The situation is also opportunity to approach new markets with new solutions and services.” –Innokas Medical
“Winning companies are the ones with a solution for digital health or diagnostics or the ones that have been able to adjust their business quickly.”
“Be agile and pivot fast”
The fundaments of taking new digital technology to use in healthcare has been there for decades, at least on discussion level. When Covid-19 hit hard and unexpectedly, health technology finally got a flying start.
“According to our study, it seems that Finland has followed the global trend in Covid-19: Winning companies are the ones with a solution for digital health or diagnostics or the ones that have been able to adjust their business quickly. The acute crisis has made the demand for novel digital solutions in healthcare go through the roof, and the new solutions will stay in use from now on”, comments Lauri Kuronen, Business Advisor, Health Capital Helsinki.
“Crisis is always an opportunity for some, if you are agile and able to pivot fast. As a tip for startups in the future, take into consideration and play with various scenarios of your business as part of your strategy planning. Then it’s easier to react and scale your business, whatever happens”, Kuronen says.
Health Capital Helsinki thanks all the companies that contributed in the survey. We got a good overview of your needs and hope to be able to support you in the future.
More experiences from the companies
About the impact on Covid-19 on business
“Traditional medtech business is a bit cautious now but growth within new solutions supported by data is arising. We are now in traffic lights and looking forward to yellow light to turn bright green.” –Innokas Medical
“Very positive impact as we were able to make a diagnostic test for Covid-19.” –Abacus Diagnostica
“Increased demand both from existing customers as well as from new ones for critical communications and alerting. Business has grown roughly speaking 60%.” –Secapp
“Since Covid-19 started there has been urgent need for trustworthy testing services for personal protective equipment and medical devices. We have tested the preformance of the materials and products for tens of different vendors, including the new Finnish protective equipment manufacturers.” –Measur
About the future post-Covid-19
“We will be leaner, stronger and more efficient. The pandemic has helped us to streamline the processes, especially the sales process. We have learned a lot about remote sales and are now utilizing virtual meetings as a natural part of our sales work.” –Ascom
“Our rapid response to the Covid-19 pandemic and ability to leverage our existing technologies and expertise amid a global crisis, including in supply chain management and manufacturing, has been a further validation that we have all the tools to succeed in our goal.” –Mobidiag
“Better than ever. We are a profitable fast-growing company eyes on the international market. Covid-19 made us believe in our execution capabilities even more.” –Measur
“The situation is also opportunity to approach new markets with new solutions and services.” –Innokas Medical
Interested in Finnish health tech innovation to battle against Covid-19? Join Health Capital Helsinki webinar on 24 June.
Want to know more about the survey or Finnish health tech startups? Contact:
Lauri Kuronen
Business Advisor
Health Capital Helsinki
lauri.kuronen@healthcapitalhelsinki.fi
Article Source: https://healthcapitalhelsinki.fi/survey-covid-19/
