Impact
Report 2024
Sustainable Healthcare Workforce
Find.
Build.
Scale.
In a healthcare landscape challenged by market complexities, regulatory barriers, and industry fragmentation, only 5% of healthtech inventions ever reach the patients they were designed to help. NLC is changing this by finding, building, and scaling transformative health technologies.
We identify high-impact innovations, develop them into market-ready ventures, and ensure they reach the patients and professionals who need them most. As healthcare systems face rising costs, aging populations, and increasing chronic diseases, innovation is more crucial than ever.
By collaborating with leading institutions, corporations, and medical experts, we turn groundbreaking ideas into life-changing solutions that improve healthcare worldwide.
2024 at a glance:
Happy workforce
The WHO projects a shortfall of 10 million healthcare workers by 2030, driven by staff shortages, burnout, and financial strain. Ventures like Foveo Fertility and Flowview automate time-consuming tasks, freeing up time for patient care, while ARNE’s decision support system helps prevent critical errors in neonatal resuscitation. Loresa is simplifying surgical procedures in resource-limited settings, making high-quality care more accessible and efficient.
Ventures with a positive impact on workforce
For the third consecutive year, our portfolio companies participated in a structured impact assessment. 74% reported positive scores for their impact on the healthcare workforce, highlighting their role in reducing worker burden and improving safety.
The remaining ventures received neutral scores, indicating they do not yet directly impact working conditions, but also do not have negative effects.
By reducing the cognitive load on caregivers, ARNE allows them to focus on what matters most—saving lives. The device simplifies complex processes, providing step-by-step guidance so they don’t have to recall every detail in high-stress situations.
Patients impacted
Our ventures are already making a measurable difference. To date, the ventures in our portfolio have positively impacted the lives of over 2.4 million patients, reflecting an increase of almost ten times compared to 2023.
Attract and develop talent
At NLC, we know that diverse leadership is key to driving the success of our ventures. From clinical expertise to product development and exit strategies, our ventures require a broad range of skills.
In 2024, we put a strong focus on nurturing internal talent to build a leadership pipeline that supports both individual careers and the long-term growth of our ventures.
This year’s numbers
In 2024, our portfolio expanded as we supported more ventures, evaluated cutting-edge technologies worldwide, and secured critical funding to accelerate healthcare innovation.
Venture spotlight
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death in young adults in Europe, claiming 75,000 lives annually. Currently, the standard method for measuring intracranial pressure (ICP), a key indicator of TBi, involves a highly invasive procedure where a sensor is inserted into the brain.
Crainio developed a noninvasive device that is attached to the patients' forehead and uses low power infrared light to detect pulse signals in arteries in the brain.These signals are processed by advanced algorithms to provide real-time ICP estimates.
Two-thirds of children and a quarter of adultsexperience a fear of needles, leading to 38% of patients skipping their self-administered injections, putting their health at risk.
Exolvo Biosciences is developing an innovative solution to this challenge: a pill that replaces injections, delivering medication directly to a pain-free zone in the stomach. The modular design of the Exolvo capsule allows it to work with a variety of medications.
With 76 active ventures spanning biotechnology, cardiovascular solutions, orthopedics, and general healthcare innovations, our portfolio is shaping the future of healthcare.
Explore four ventures making a real-world impact, transforming patient care, and driving lasting change globally.
Pneumonia is the leading cause of death among children under five, particularly in low-resource settings, accounting for 14% of all child deaths in this age group. Diagnosing pneumonia relies heavily on counting a child's breathing rate, but manual methods are often unreliable, particularly in areas where health workers have limited training.
The Children's Automated Respiration Monitor (ChARM)automates the measurement of respiratory rate using chest movement. It delivers accurate readings with a simple green or red light, enabling community health workers to quickly and easily identify children who need urgent care.
1 in 6 people struggle to conceive naturally. Every year, 4 million IVF cycles are performed worldwide, a number that continues to grow rapidly. Yet, pregnancy rates have stagnated.
Foveo Fertility developed a device for enclosed egg collection, featuring a suction needle for transvaginal oocyte collection, a chamber to hold the eggs, and a pump to maintain a constant medium flow. It ensures that each egg has the best possible chance of conceiving a child, and streamlines lab workflows by reducing manual steps.
A word by our CEO
“The challenges we face in the healthcare system should drive us beyond comfort and into building something stronger. Take action, creating real life impact and monetary value. That benefits everyone.
The future won’t wait—let’s start building it now."
Measuring our impact
The actions of NLC lead to the creation of portfolio companies which have the potential to solve the world’s healthcare challenges, specifically leading to measurable impact in four different categories:
Happy workforce
74% of our ventures report a positive impact on the workforce, decreasing the burden and increasing safety of care professionals. By addressing key challenges, we empower healthcare workers to provide better care and improve their well-being, creating a more sustainable and efficient workforce.
Happy patients
99% of our ventures report a positive impact on patients by quality of life for patients. By developing advanced technologies, we focus on personalized treatment, faster diagnoses, and better healthcare experiences, ensuring that patients receive improved outcomes and care.
Happy society
99% of our ventures report a positive societal impact by reducing costs, minimizing workforce requirements, and alleviating the burden on informal caregivers. Our scalable healthcare solutions make healthcare more accessible, efficient, and equitable, creating a broader positive impact on society.
Happy planet
50% of our ventures report being more environmentally friendly than the current standard of care, helping to reduce the environmental footprint of the healthcare system. Through innovation, our ventures are working to lower waste, energy consumption, and the overall ecological impact of healthcare.
Breaking the bias
For the first time, NLC is reporting on women’s health, taking a crucial step toward closing a long-standing gap in medicine.
Historically, healthcare has been designed around male physiology, leaving women underserved—but addressing this isn’t just about equity, it’s an economic opportunity. Advancing care for conditions like breast cancer, endometriosis, and heart disease could add seven healthy days per year for every woman and unlock $1 trillion in annual global GDP by 2040.
Women spend 25% more of their lives in poorer health, with conditions like e.g. osteoporosis disproportionately affecting them: they experience more frequently and earlier in life fragility fractures than men. At POROUS, we are committed to changing this reality by providing safe and cost-effective diagnostics that make early bone health assessment accessible to all. Our mission is to empower women with the tools they need to take control of their health and well-being.
Advancing Women’s Health with Innovation
A major barrier in women’s health is the lack of sex-disaggregated data in clinical research. Despite women’s unique physiology, only 10% of clinical trials for ischemic heart disease and migraines report sex-specific outcomes. As Criado Perez put it, “Women are dying, and the medical world is complicit.” NLC’s 2024 impact assessment underscores the need for action:
Despite these challenges, innovation is driving change. Ventures like POROUS are leading the way, developing solutions that address unmet needs in women’s health and help close the gap in research, diagnosis, and treatment.
Read all details in the full report