NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – GE has launched a new $250 million equity fund to invest in "highly promising" young companies developing or offering life sciences tools, diagnostics, and health care information technologies, GE Healthcare said today.
The GE Healthymagination Fund, part of the company's $6 billion Healthymagination Initiative, will be global in reach and it will harness the capabilities of GE Healthcare, GE Capital, and GE Global Research.
In the area of broad-based diagnostics, the fund will support companies developing or offering molecular diagnostics, novel imaging agents, patient monitoring, and other diagnostic tools.
In the life sciences, the GE fund will invest in tools for biopharmaceutical research and development, tools used for making vaccines, and stem cell R&D.
On the health care IT front, the fund will support electronic medical records, value-added data services, clinical information systems, and health care information exchanges.
"[T]he new fund "gives us an opportunity to work with emerging companies to support their development, as well as provide them access to our technology base and our global presence," GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt said in a statement. "As GE works on solutions to healthcare's biggest challenges, it is vitally important that we support the development of companies with promising technologies or business models that are aligned with our strategy and have the potential to shape the future of healthcare."