How Australian Medical Angels is helping doctors invest in the medtech they really need

Dr Mian Bi is an emergency doctor and a researcher with a PhD in neuroscience — which would be more than enough achievement for most people.

But Bi is also co-founder of Australian Medical Angels (AMA), a syndicate group of doctors and medical professionals dedicated to bringing healthcare innovations to market.

“These days, my real passion is financial education and investing — helping doctors to invest in what they know best, which is their own sector.”

Bi’s angel investing journey began some seven years ago, when he started attending pitch nights and innovation events. He also launched a Facebook group, Investing for Doctors, chronicling his journey and helping other doctors manage their finances and grow their wealth.

Through this network, he connected with Dr Amandeep Hansra, a practising GP with extensive experience in digital health and consulting, and who also founded an online community, Creative Careers in Medicine.

Combining Bi’s investment knowledge with Amandeep’s entrepreneurialism was a no brainer, Bi says.

“We went for some coffee, connected the dots, and decided to create AMA.”

From a “hobby group” to $14 million deployed

To date, AMA has closed 25 investments all over Australia, totalling about $14 million. It has also contributed to two early-stage VC funds that invest in the health space.

In Bi’s own words, the syndicate started out being “casual, very amateurish and hobbyish”.

Three years ago, however, the founders applied for, and secured, a LaunchVic grant for specialist angel networks focused on healthcare.

“It was a natural fit,” Bi recalls.

That gave us the funding to turn our little amateurish fitout into something more professional.”

The team built a new platform and secured all the necessary financial services licensing to grow to the next level.

Today, it’s a relatively well-known player in early-stage med-tech investment, having backed the likes of digital health app platform WeGuide, and telehealth startup Coviu, which powered the Healthdirect video call service throughout the pandemic, and has now expanded into the US.

Melbourne’s tradition in medtech

AMA was born out of Sydney, but Bi and Amandeep have since launched a Victorian branch focused on Victorian startups.

Bi says support from the Victorian government has been “absolutely instrumental” in getting the group to where it is today.

AMA has received $300,000 through LaunchVic’s VC Support Program, to help seed its new venture fund.

It has also secured funding to run an accelerator program, helping teach clinicians how to innovate and build tech products; how to bring their ideas to life.

Together, these two initiatives will allow Bi and Amandeep to support founders throughout their whole journey, from concept and building the product to the later stages when they start generating revenue.

“That’s the space we want to play in,” Bi says.

“With this support, we’ve got a good shot at it.”

With 18% of Victorian startups focusing on healthtech, it stands to reason that the Medical Angels see opportunity here.

The Victorian heath network is made up of various hospital groups and health services, rather than centralised systems you see in NSW Health or Queensland Health, for example. That means lower barriers to entry for pilot projects and small-scale implementation.

There are also world-class education and research institutions, meaning more innovation emerges here.

“Melbourne has a strong tradition in health, and medical devices specifically,” Bi notes.

Investing in painkillers

AMA is striving to help meet demand for innovation in medicine by channeling the deep subject matter expertise of its members.

There is demand for innovation in medicine, but it’s a conservative field, and it can take decades for the latest research to translate into actual tools that can support the professionals on the ground.

Doctors know best what they need. So doctors can prioritise the new innovation that will have the most impact.

“When you have non-specialist investors who aren’t aware of how the system works, the money flows into ‘sexy’ things,” Bi says.

“But the impact to the healthcare system may not be as much,” he adds.

AMA is looking to invest in what Bi calls “painkillers” — the tools that address real pain points and inefficiencies in the healthcare system.

That could be replacing a manual process with a digital one to free up time, or it could be innovation to turn a 20-minute process into a five minute one.

“We like things that streamline how medicine is delivered,” Bi explains.

“What medicine really needs is the almost evolutionary steps in how we deliver healthcare and how we treat certain conditions. It’s very difficult for the average investor to understand that,” he adds.

“That’s the difference we’re trying to make, and we invite others to join us on this journey.”