BGO Software and NLC Health Ventures Partner to Accelerate Healthtech Startup Success
BGO Software and NLC Health Ventures have joined forces in a strategic partnership aimed at boosting the success rates of digital health startups. This collaboration combines NLC's expertise in venture building, investment, and business strategy with BGO's strengths in healthcare technology consultancy and software development. Together we provide comprehensive support to early-stage healthtech ventures, ensuring these startups have the tools and guidance needed to thrive in the competitive digital health landscape.
Venture Building: Why It Matters in the Future of Digital Health
Venture building helps new businesses succeed by providing funding, expertise, and support. This approach is crucial in healthtech, where up to 90% of startups fail early due to a lack of key skills, weak business models, and difficulty integrating digital solutions into existing healthcare systems. Additionally, entrepreneurs often struggle to adapt to rapid technological advances and face significant challenges when integrating new digital health solutions with existing systems.
Our partnership tackles these challenges by combining NLC’s business expertise with BGO’s technical skills, giving startups the tools and support they need to thrive in the competitive healthtech market.
According to a recent Frontiers survey, 38% of startups fail due to a lack of competence, resulting in poorly designed products and ineffective business models. This is especially problematic in healthcare, where precision and regulatory compliance are critical. BGO Software's expertise in developing secure, compliant, and scalable solutions for enterprises and SMEs addresses these challenges. By bringing their experience in healthcare software to early-stage companies, BGO ensures that startups have the technical foundation to succeed, bridging the gap between innovation and execution.
The Digital Health Landscape in Europe: Opportunities and Challenges
The global digital health funding landscape experienced a significant decline in the third quarter of 2023, with a 14% drop in funding, totaling $3 billion—the lowest level since 2016. This downturn has affected Europe, leading to:
- More careful investors because of the uncertainty of the economy
- Increased interest rates
- Less Investment Deals and Tougher Negotiations
- Investment goalposts move further and further - need to show a lot stronger traction and also in a lot shorter timeframe
These challenges have led to a high failure rate for startups in the region, making growth and development difficult. Europe also contends with regulatory hurdles across countries, inconsistent digital infrastructure, varying levels of digital literacy, and uneven sector development, all of which further obstruct the success of digital health initiatives.
Investors are increasingly cautious due to economic uncertainty, higher interest rates, and tougher negotiations. Startups must now show stronger traction in a shorter time. This shift has led to fewer investment deals and higher failure rates, especially in regions like Europe, where regulatory hurdles, inconsistent digital infrastructure, and varying levels of digital literacy make growth difficult.
BGO partnership with NLC helps startups overcome these challenges by providing product development expertise and business support. We help startups create scalable solutions faster, giving them the traction needed to succeed in this tougher landscape.
How Do BGO and NLC partner together to succeed?
Our partnership with NLC Health started with a simple idea: we both saw the potential to do more in healthtech and technology first companies. In early 2024, as we discussed possible investments in NLC’s portfolio, we quickly realized that we shared the same vision. What began as conversations about strategy soon grew into a collaboration with the potential to make a real difference in healthcare. We kicked off this journey in Sofia at the Forbes Health Summit, where NLC’s COO Sylvia Butzke made her mark and engaged the audience about the concept of venture building.
This partnership has the potential to reshape the healthcare venture ecosystem. NLC Health Ventures brings business expertise and venture-building skills, covering talent recruitment, product development, and strategic support. BGO Software adds its technological expertise, delivering secure, scalable digital solutions and ongoing consultancy. Together, we offer a comprehensive approach to addressing market needs and driving startup success.
NLC's CEO Meets Bulgarian Entrepreneurs to Launch Partnership
In July, the partnership gained momentum when we welcomed NLC’s CEO & Co-Founder, Bert Arjan Millenaar, to Sofia. He led a seminar for Bulgarian entrepreneurs at our office, focusing on how venture building can turn digital health startups into success stories.
Bert-Arjan shared NLC’s approach to overcoming key challenges - like bridging the gap between innovation and execution and navigating the tough early stages that many startups struggle with.
His insights laid out the blueprint for success in this partnership.
We focus on the details, find the right leaders, and create a supportive environment to help early-stage companies grow and attract investors
CEO & Co-Founder of NLC Health Ventures
Ivan Lekushev, our CEO, emphasized the importance of this partnership for Europe's tech landscape.
Almost four years ago, we dedicated ourselves fully to healthcare software. Now, with NLC Health, we’re taking that commitment to the next level. Starting from Europe, we’re combining business insight with technological expertise to create new opportunities for the startup ecosystem, with the potential to impact healthcare innovation worldwide.
CEO & Co-Founder of bgo software
This is just the beginning. With this partnership in place, we’re already exploring future investments and collaborations. Stay tuned - there’s much more to come as we continue to drive innovation in digital health across Europe and beyond.
About the Partners
NLC Health Ventures is a leading health technology venture builder, dedicated to transforming healthcare through innovative solutions. Since its inception in 2015, NLC has collaborated with academic institutions, hospitals, and business innovators to bring groundbreaking technologies to market. Their approach combines financial backing, expert knowledge, and strategic support to transform promising health innovations into successful businesses.
BGO Software is a renowned IT company specializing in healthcare technology solutions. With over 15 years of industry experience, BGO Software offers comprehensive technology consulting, software development, and IT infrastructure services. Their focus on healthcare technology enables businesses to mitigate technological risks and accelerate growth, ultimately delivering enhanced value to patients.
