Landspítali (National University Hospital of Iceland) has entrusted the New Business Venture Fund with the management of the hospital’s equity stakes in health-tech startups. The portfolio currently includes 11 startups, but it is expected to grow in the future.
Landspítali has acquired these stakes by supporting entrepreneurs in their early stages, mainly by providing facilities, access to equipment, or other resources — an arrangement well known in the scientific community. Under the agreement, the New Business Venture Fund will oversee the equity holdings, drawing on its expertise in managing startup companies.
The agreement builds on similar contracts made earlier: with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs in 2018, granting the Fund oversight of state-owned shares in unlisted companies, and with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation in 2021, regarding stakes previously held by the Icelandic Innovation Center when that institution was dissolved.
"It is important to nurture the startups that emerge within the hospital, and this agreement is part of creating a solid and supportive framework for entrepreneurial activity,” said Runólfur Pálsson, CEO of Landspítali, at the signing of the agreement.
Hrönn Greipsdóttir, CEO of the New Business Venture Fund, welcomed the agreement, noting that it is well aligned with the Fund’s mission and expertise:
"While it is important to safeguard the value created by entrepreneurial activity within the hospital, the experience and support of the Fund should also prove valuable to the entrepreneurs themselves.”
