Bonn, Germany — Kranus Health, the digital men’s health platform, today announced a seven-figure seed funding. HTGF, A Round Capital, Venture Basecamp and Dr. Ralph Müller are new investors in Kranus Health. In addition to the new investors, existing business angels, including Konstantin Mehl (founder Foodora + Kaia Health), have again participated in the seed round.
With the fresh capital, Kranus Health will continue to expand its men’s health platform and take the next step of launching a reimbursable digital therapy as a sustainable solution for erectile dysfunction. The existing expert network of urology specialists will also be further expanded to reach even more men with Kranus Health solutions.
The digital health company Kranus Health was founded in 2020 by Jens Nörtershäuser, Thilo Kleinschmidt, Nikolay Dimolarov and Professor Kurt Miller. The goal is to rethink men’s healthcare and improve it using digital solutions. Men’s life expectancy is still up to 6 years behind women’s, thousands of men worldwide die too early due to unhealthy lifestyles and lack of preventive care and prevention — there is a lack of health awareness.
Kranus Health is on a mission to change that. Digital and thus easily accessible patient journeys lower men’s inhibitions about consulting a doctor for their problems and sustainably support a healthy lifestyle because users interact with the digital offering in an uncomplicated and frequent manner. The first offering being developed is a reimbursable digital therapy for erectile dysfunction (DiGA as an “app on prescription”). In this clinical picture, there is a close connection with serious cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks, the risk factors of which should also be reduced by Kranus Health therapy. The startup works closely with medical specialists and has already built up a broad network of experts from German urologists.
“Kranus Health has developed an offering based on scientific evidence that provides urologists with entirely new and, most importantly, root cause-oriented options in treating their patients, according to Professor Kurt Miller,” Chief Medical Officer at Kranus Health
With the fresh capital and the investors’ network, the digital therapy will be further developed this year and launched as a reimbursable product, and the digital platform for men’s health will also be expanded with additional offerings.
“In the clinical picture of erectile dysfunction, current offerings such as medications are aimed at alleviating the symptoms, but not the causes. With its digital solution, Kranus is helping to improve the quality of life of a large number of men in a long-term and goal-oriented manner,” explains Louis Heinz, Investment Manager at HTGF
About Kranus Health
Kranus Health aims to help men live healthier, longer lives by providing easy, straightforward access to the latest medical care. Founders Thilo Kleinschmidt and Jens Nörtershäuser have known each other for many years through their time together at McKinsey & Company, and both have been passionate about the possibilities of digital transformation for years. But both also had a keen interest in the healthcare sector. Jens is originally a bio-engineer and has years of professional experience in the pharmaceutical field. Thilo comes from a medical family, his father is a urologist. The idea of founding Kranus at the beginning of 2020 was therefore an obvious one and also took place against the backdrop of regulatory changes, in particular the Digital Utility Act (DVG). Since then, it has been possible to significantly improve healthcare in Germany through digital therapies.
Professor Kurt Miller, former Chief of Urology at Charité Berlin, and CTO Nikolay Dimolarov (Celonis, among others) complement the founding team to jointly implement Kranus’ vision. For this purpose, Kranus Health develops digital therapies based on current scientific findings supported by telemedical care from medical specialists. The spectrum of services ranges from therapies for taboo diseases such as erectile dysfunction to early detection and prevention (e.g. cardiovascular diseases).
About High-Tech Gründerfonds
The seed investor High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) finances technology start-ups with growth potential. With a volume of around EUR 900 million spread across three funds and an international partner network, HTGF has supported more than 600 start-ups since 2005. His team of experienced investment managers and start-up experts supports the young companies with know-how, entrepreneurial spirit and passion. The focus is on high-tech start-ups in the fields of digital tech, industrial tech, life sciences, chemistry and related business areas.
Almost EUR 3 billion in capital has been invested in the HTGF portfolio by external investors in more than 1,700 follow-on financing rounds to date. In addition, the fund has already successfully sold shares in more than 120 companies.Investors in the public-private partnership include the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, KfW Capital, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the companies ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, B.Braun, Robert Bosch, BÜFA, CEWE, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Post DHL, Dräger, Drillisch AG, EVONIK, EWE AG, FOND OF, Haniel, Hettich, Knauf, Körber, LANXESS, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, PHOENIX CONTACT, QIAGEN, RWE Generation SE, SAP, Schufa, Schwarz Gruppe, STIHL, Thüga, Vector Informatik, WACKER and Wilh. Werhahn KG.