Over the years, we’ve seen web and mobile technology disrupt business, education, legal and many other fields as professionals adopt products that help them work more effectively and efficiently.  While the healthcare industry has always been more conservative, it is now primed for change.

At Version One, we have been looking intensely for investment opportunities in healthcare, believing that the leaders of this disruption will be companies that are able to connect people (doctor-doctor, patient-patient, doctor-patient) in a large, secure, and regulatory-compliant network in order to democratize medical knowledge and increase access to care.

Today, we are thrilled to announce our first investment in this space:  Figure 1, a safe photo sharing app for medical professionals.  The product is a mobile, crowdsourced platform where healthcare professionals can upload, tag and discuss images (for example, images of surgical procedures or rare medical conditions).

Doctors may already share images with one another while in the same office or medical facility, but Figure 1 now offers the medical community a way to collaborate and communicate around images, no matter where they’re located. It breaks down traditional information silos which is key to improving patient care and medical education.  The app already has users across Canada, the US, and the UK.

Figure 1 was founded in early 2013 by a super talented team:  Joshua Landy, a critical care physician; Richard Penner, a mobile developer; and Gregory Levey, a JD/MBA. We are co-leading this investment with Rho Canada Ventures and are joined by several angel investors.  We are really excited to be a part of Figure 1’s journey going forward!

To learn more, visit figure1.com or follow @figure1app on Twitter.