Interview with Björn von Siemens, Co-Founder of caresyntax

Björn von Siemens is co-founder and managing director of caresyntax GmbH. The company develops algorithms that analyze risk factors during surgery and provide decision support. The company, based in Berlin and Boston, recently raised 100 million US dollars in a Series C financing round. In an interview, the direct descendant of Werner von Siemens talks about how the money will be employed, amongst other things.

 

 

In a recent financing round in May this year your company caresyntax was able to raise 100 million US dollars. What makes caresyntax so attractive to investors and how will the money raised be invested?

Caresyntax offers technologies for surgery, one of the largest fields within medicine. At the same time, digitalization in this field is comparatively undeveloped, so there is a great need for the digital solutions that we offer. The investments from this round will therefore be used to develop applications that, on the one hand, support the surgeons' decision-making in the operating theater, and on the other hand to develop software solutions for healthcare companies and insurance companies .

 

Caresyntax started in Berlin in 2013 with a screen and a control console for surgeons. Today, the caresyntax platform combines IoT technologies and AI-based analysis tools for the surgery. What expertise is required to develop these technologies and how do you collaborate with users in the development process?

Indeed, it is crucial to have deep expertise in surgery. Among our almost 200 employees, there are surgeons and specialists who have worked in the OR. In addition, we work closely together with hospitals and active surgeons in development and in everyday life. Naturally, technological expertise is critical, too. We have teams that are specialized in the areas of software development and data analysis. Overall, we follow a multidisciplinary approach.

 

Interoperability of technological and cross-sectoral interfaces is the prerequisite for digitalization in the healthcare sector. What does this mean for the cooperation of caresyntax with other providers from the medical technology sector and with stakeholders from the healthcare sector?

What sets caresyntax apart is that we work in a vendor-neutral way. We connect with different medical companies that also compete with each other, as well as with different IT companies that already work with hospitals. The platform we offer brings together all the data that is needed. The topic of interoperability with the right interfaces is extremely important and also one of the unique selling points we have.

 

In addition to Berlin, caresyntax also has headquarters in Boston. What role do both locations play?

Both headquarters are important for us. They each serve different markets: Europe and Asia are managed from Berlin, while the Boston office manages markets in the USA and Australia. The reason for this task allocation is the respective proximity to the markets and the very different health care systems in each region. The proximity also enables us to adapt our sales activities and marketing, react to developments and set impulses ourselves.

 

What are the advantages of Berlin as a location and what role does business and technology support at the location play in this?

We chose Berlin at the time for three reasons. Firstly, the access to talent convinced us, in this regard Berlin is still the leader in Europe. And secondly there is a strong health industry and associated infrastructure here including leading hospitals in Europe. Another factor was the excellent support we received from Berlin Partner and the team, be it in settling on the site, identifying potential partners, or even participating in trade fairs and much more. 



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