Seeing the Future: Kilo Health’s Guide to Identifying Investment-Worthy Ideas

For digital health entrepreneurs, securing significant investment to launch new products is a huge challenge in the current financial climate. While venture capital funding reached highs of $29.1 billion throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, this quickly fell to $6 billion in 2023, mainly due to lower check sizes, smaller investor groups, and fewer deals.

Startup companies must therefore think outside of the box to source the necessary capital and resources, particularly when it comes to creating a groundbreaking product idea. As the second fastest-growing company in Europe, Kilo Health is one company that can help.

The global digital health and wellness leaders invest in startup companies through the unique Co-found Program, which accelerates innovative products from the idea stage right through to launch. In return for a digital health business idea that effectively addresses consumer pain points, co-founders will receive all of the financial backing, operational capacity, and marketing support they need to launch and scale an industry-leading company.

3 years on from the program’s original launch, Kilo Health continues to help co-founders stand out in a highly competitive market. But what must applicants do to demonstrate that their ideas are worth the risk?

One of the biggest indications of an investment-worthy idea is that people are willing to pay for your product. Whether the market is already saturated with plenty of product options or your target market simply isn’t interested, you’ll struggle to find an investor willing to part with their well-earned capital without paying customers.

So, before jumping straight into a full launch, startup companies should be able to demonstrate that there’s a significant demand for the product. One effective way of doing this is by getting your idea out there amongst consumers via pre-sales or crowdfunding before its full launch.

Taking pre-orders is a great method for generating some revenue early on, which shows investors that they can expect to see a quick and worthwhile return on their capital. Plus, it gives you the chance to gather some feedback on what consumers find useful and how the product’s features could be improved.

Along with providing the perfect opportunity to gather customer feedback, pre-orders also allow entrepreneurs to see how their product could potentially perform in terms of the numbers, which are known as KPIs.

As a quantitative measurement, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) show whether or not a company is progressing well toward a specific objective, which could be anything from the number of conversions made to engagement rates on your social media page. Monitoring these figures prior to launch day can help you get ahead on making any necessary changes – especially those that increase the potential investment value of your product.

Another sign that an idea is investment-worthy is if it addresses consumer pain points head-on. These are the common problems that your target audience faces in their professional or private lives, whether they’re struggling to access a specific service or find an effective solution for a health issue.

For instance, when it comes to healthcare, a huge post-COVID-19 pain point is systems that don’t directly consider unique patient needs. Today, patients want deeper, more meaningful relationships with providers that benefit their holistic health goals, understanding how physical health connects with social, emotional, and mental well-being.

In fact, a study conducted by CVS Health shows that 85% of consumers believe more personalized care is essential, while 83% want their primary physician to understand their family medical history, genetics, and inherited lifestyle habits.

For digital healthcare products or services to be successful, they should therefore try to offer direct solutions to these needs, perhaps through technologies like artificial intelligence that improve the efficiency of healthcare systems by reducing the need for in-person appointments.

To find out more about the importance of personalized healthcare and market demand in securing the necessary investment for a digital health idea, check out the Kilo Heath Co-found website.