Formalised agreement with EpiCura, the start-up that created Italy’s first digital health clinic. EA invests in innovation to improve and expand its offering.
Milan, 16 september 2021 – Home care is an increasingly important issue in modern society. Families face many difficulties in caring for the elderly, the chronically ill or anyone in need. The coronavirus pandemic has made it even more necessary to be able to access medical care without having to visit health care facilities.
Europ Assistance Italia, a Generali Group company specialising in private assistance, is very committed to this area and aims to offer increasingly effective and timely services to its customers. The operation completed with EpiCura, the Turin-based start-up that has created the first digital outpatient clinic in Italy, created to innovate the health and personal care sector through the convenient and fast provision of health and social care services, wherever the patient needs them, is part of this perspective. EpiCura had already been selected in 2018 among the most innovative start-ups of the Call for Growth Smart Aging: Care for Baby Boomers, developed by Europ Assistance, Assicurazioni Generali and growITup, an Open Innovation platform created by Cariplo Factory in collaboration with Microsoft.
To complete the process, Europ Assistance Italia today enters the company’s capital with a €3 million investment, accompanied by the entry of Fabio Carsenzuola, CEO of Europ Assistance Italia, into the Board of Directors of EpiCura. The investment is part of a capital increase worth a total of €5 million, in which Europ Assistance acted as lead investor.
The transaction has a strategic value for the company and lays the groundwork for evaluating further investments in the company’s capital upon the successful outcome of the expected industrial synergies, confirming a long-term vision with respect to innovation models.
This is not just a financial agreement: the partnership is an industrial one. With this agreement, Europ Assistance confirms its vocation to provide medical care and services at home, both in person and via online video consultation. EpiCura services will be integrated into the Europ Assistance offer, strengthening the services of Integrated Home Care, Senior Care and Medical Teleconsulting. All with the coordination of the Europ Assistance Medical Centre and the possibility to interact in a completely digital mode.
EpiCura is a young and dynamic company that has all the potential to become an important player,” says Fabio Carsenzuola, CEO of Europ Assistance Italia. “For us, this is a key investment that will enable us to improve our services in the field of home caring. We see strong growth prospects and a share of innovation that immediately becomes part of our way of working: being able to offer our customers a platform for accessing services digitally, but always guaranteeing the centrality of the human relationship”.
“In a social and market context that has made it clear to everyone how home medical care is a solution to respond to the multiple needs of Italian families, as well as to lighten the load on public hospitals, EpiCura has found not only confirmation of its vision but also the stimulus to make its offer more and more complete and efficient. This is what has been recognized by the new shareholders who are entering our capital” said Gianluca Manitto and Alessandro Ambrosio CEO and Co-Founder of EpiCura “We are extremely proud to be able to contribute with our services to complement the support that an operator of the caliber of Europ Assistance offers its customers. Thanks to Europ Assistance we will have the opportunity to expand our business and also to see confirmed the trust of investors who have believed in us since our inception”.
The EpiCura operation represents just one part of Europ Assistance’s strategy on the health front. The policies in the Eura Salute 360 line offer a range of solutions that can adapt to the customer’s needs and be activated only for the areas required.
The use of technology with dedicated apps such as MyClinic, the possibility of having professional figures such as the Care Manager available to help find the right specialists, allow Europ Assistance to offer complete and timely coverage.
Health is today at the centre of Italian concerns, and the response must be increasingly innovative and efficient.
