Where the state fails, the private sector comes in and investors take notice

Healthcare in Slovakia, just as it is elsewhere in the world, is fast becoming one of the most promising sectors for investment, which is recognized not only by the companies themselves operating in this area, but also by investors. Demand for private healthcare services is growing each year, which creates space for new facilities and the need for development capital, opening up new, lucrative investment opportunities.

One such company is the healthcare group Váš Lekár, which includes a modern polyclinic in Bratislava’s Eurovea II building, a network of Váš Lekár clinics and pharmacies located throughout Slovakia, as well as a community and event space Lab 28 in Nivy Tower, which is focused on companies providing healthcare services. On the Crowdberry platform, Váš Lekár is in the process of opening up a second investment round to raise funds to double the number of its pharmacies and further develop its business. Investors now have another opportunity to acquire a share in a modern, growing healthcare network with interesting investment returns.

Private sector grows as state fails to keep up

The situation in the state healthcare system and the current state of public investment in the healthcare system increases the demand of patients for private services focused on the availability of appointments, quality and especially prevention.

Slovakia has been near the bottom of healthcare spending in the EU, not only in per capita terms, but also in terms of HDP. According to a recent OECD report, only Poland, Romania and Bulgaria spend less. Despite universal health insurance, many Slovaks spend a lot of their own money on healthcare. This trend is growing and creating space for private providers, while the market still shows a lot of room for new players to enter the market.

In 2023, a survey by the Health Care Supervisory Authority showed that 37 % of respondents paid for treatment with a specialist and 35 % for a visit to a polyclinic.

"When building the concept of our holding, we analyzed the most pressing problems of patients in Slovakia, such as long waiting times, unavailability of specialists, and frequent insufficient levels of care, which are the result of the overburdening of the healthcare sector. Our primary goal is therefore to create an effective and affordable healthcare model with quality services for the large cities and regions where they are still lacking. We want to actively contribute to the transformation and increase of the level of healthcare in Slovakia," says Pavol Marcinko, CEO of Váš Lekár.

Mass financing opens the door to new players, but also to investors

Investor interest in healthcare is constantly growing. This is confirmed by Crowdberry, the largest crowdfunding platform in Slovakia. More than 25 million EUR from Crowdberry investors and over 41 million EUR including co-investments were directed to healthcare and biotechnology companies - whether it is private facilities for the care of the elderly and Alzheimer's in Dúbravka, Váš Lekár Polyclinic in Eurovea or biotechnology companies MultiplexDX or Glycanostics. The latter attracted hundreds of Slovak investors looking to put money in innovative diagnostic methods for early stage cancer. The investment opportunity in the expansion of pharmacies and the operation of the Váš Lekár Polyclinic will be equally successful.

"Being a co-owner of major healthcare facilities or pharmacy chains is, in our country and abroad, typically the domain of large professional investors and private equity funds. Their investors are mainly pension funds. Through the Crowdberry investment platform, we enable this type of investment from individual investors as well – directly and without high fee costs. We see no reason why only financial groups or Californian teachers or retired Canadian nurses should benefit from this attractive and demographically driven sector. It belongs to Slovaks and Czechs, and our mission of creating a private capital market with our strategic partner Slovenská sporiteľňa allows them to co-own such attractive companies and real estate, not just in the healthcare sector," comments Dano Gašpar from Crowdberry.

First round – successful opening of polyclinic, Second round – expansion

In the first investment round, the Váš Lekár group used private capital obtained via mass financing to build a modern polyclinic with 24 specialties focused on prevention and longevity, located in Bratislava’s Eurovea. The interest of Slovaks in private care outside of the capital is also confirmed by the performance of Váš Lekár’s clinics in the regions.

For this reason, the group is looking to further develop its healthcare portfolio with capital from private investors, this time to expand the already fast-growing network of pharmacies with diagnostic services as well as support the growth of Váš Lekár’s polyclinic in Bratislava.

Why invest to Váš Lekár?

• Long-term growth sector – Demand for private healthcare is constantly growing. Slovakia ranks among the countries with the lowest number of healthy life years in the EU (56.7 years compared to the EU average of 64).
• Diversified model – The combination of polyclinics, pharmacies and outpatient clinics ensures synergies and stable income with high growth potential. It plans to expand the network to 50 pharmacies by 2028.
• Attractive capital appreciation – Revenues expected to increase to over €4.5 million through strategic acquisitions and expansion.
• Strong management and investment support – The first investment round on Crowdberry raised €2.5 million and enabled the development of a state-of-the-art polyclinic in Eurovea. The new round of funding focuses on expanding pharmacies and strengthening the outpatient network.
• Investors have the opportunity to acquire a direct stake in a promising company and achieve attractive financial appreciation with an expected return of over 20% per year.

Investing in the Váš Lekár group means not only interesting financial returns, but also a valuable share in Slovakia’s growing private healthcare market. Don’t miss this opportunity to join other investors who will share in this investment potential.

*Investments involve the risk of partial or total loss of the money invested. Your investment is not covered by the deposit protection scheme.