By Sam Nussey
TOKYO (Reuters) – Healthtech startup Biofourmis said on Thursday it has closed a $100 million series C funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp’s Vision Fund 2, as the Japanese firm extends its bets on a sector growing through the coronavirus outbreak.
Boston-based Biofourmis uses a wearable biosensor to remotely monitor patients for changes in their health. The startup is running a programme in Singapore monitoring the condition of COVID-19 patients.
The strain the pandemic is placing on national healthcare systems is driving interest in technology with the potential to facilitate care automatically and remotely.
SoftBank is investing in the sector with its own money via the successor to the $100 billion Vision Fund as it struggles to attract outside capital.
Vision Fund 2, which had invested $2.1 billion in seven startups as at the end of June, also has stakes in drug delivery firm Alto Pharmacy and blood testing firm Karius.
The conglomerate’s cash reserves are growing as it slashes its stakes in core parts of its portfolio. The Vision Fund is invested in many of the best-known startups around the world, with the portfolio hit hard by the pandemic.
(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
