Paul Bassat’s VC fund has doubled down on a medtech startup’s $18 million raise with Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull also backing it

News » Topics » Paul Bassat’s VC fund has doubled down on a medtech startup’s $18 million raise with Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull also backing it

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Paul Bassat’s VC fund has doubled down on a medtech startup’s $18 million raise with Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull also backing it

Simon Thomsen - December 8, 2020 < 1 MIN READ

HealthMatch founder Manuri Gunawardena. Photo: supplied

Square Peg Capital has led an $18 million round into a three-year-old medtech startup that’s like Tinder for clinical trials, matching researchers with patients.

Paul Bassat’s fund led a $6 million series A into HealthMatch, founded by a UNSW med student, in late 2019 following a five-day crash course into the startup, and then joined the board.

Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull also joined this latest round, along with Tempus Partners returning for a third investment. Brandon and Nicky Carp founders of Unified Healthcare Group, which Square Peg backed (UHG was acquired by Medhealth Pty Ltd last year) also joined the raise alongside Singapore’s January Capital.

The Sydney-based startup uses machine learning to automate clinical trials through contract research companies.

Simon Thomsen

Simon has been editor of Startup Daily since 2019.

He hosted the Startup Daily show on streaming service ausbiz.com.au from 2020 to 2023.

He was previously associate editor of Business Insider Australia, a national restaurant critic, editor of The Good Food Guide, and newspaper proprietor during a 30-year career in journalism and publishing.

He's also an investor in early stage startups.

Simon chaired the environment committee of industry lobby group Australian Business Ltd's (now NSW Business Chamber) during the Kyoto agreement era, debating cow farts with mining execs.