Barcelona Health Hub (BHH) is experiencing strong growth as a result of the digital health boom caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The association, which was born in 2018, has spent two years occupying one to three pavilions of the Sant Pau hospital modernist complex, to which it rents a total of 5,000 m² of offices through the Sant Pau Foundation (MIA). “Around 40 start-ups work in the facilities, it is a number that does not stop growing, there is a lot of demand,” said Cristian Pascual, president of the association, which sublets the space to start-ups, on Tuesday.
To face this growth, BHH plans to expand the space through the adaptation of the convent and two more pavilions, one of which is already in the process of being reformed.
To date, the works have been financed by the Sant Pau Foundation, controlled by the Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat and the Church. But now, the association wants to raise capital from public and private investors to defray the cost of the reforms. “We need to speed up projects and we are looking for between three and five million euros”, added Eva Rosell, the general director, and Luis Badrinas, CEO.
The non-profit association has 350 members, 200 of which are start-ups and the rest large companies in the health, pharmacy and insurance sectors. BHH defends its autonomous hub model in the city, distancing itself from the biotech sector and the digital sector in general. He considers that digital health has the potential to fly alone.
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