Why I Invested in GO Assistive Tech

80 years ago, during the siege of Budapest in January 1945, an 18-year-old soldier was seriously wounded. To save his life, his leg had to be amputated. That young man was my grandfather.

Although he suffered mentally and physically from this trauma all his life, he was a loving, caring and generous man. He would pick me up from kindergarten, we would play games in the evenings, and sometimes we would race each other down the stairs of their apartment complex. With his crutches he could walk up 5 flights of stairs at once. I can still hear our laughter when we reached the ground floor.

You would never see him without his crutches. Only on very special occasions would he wear an artificial limb. I remember as a child being fascinated by the huge wooden and striped leg that stood behind the door in my grandparents' bedroom. My grandfather didn't like to use it because it was bulky, heavy and uncomfortable. And more practical prostheses were just too expensive. He had to walk with crutches all his life, which was often exhausting and even dangerous - I remember him slipping and banging his head on several occasions.

When I started investing a few years ago, I hoped that one day I could invest in a start-up that would provide an affordable prosthesis for everyday use - something my grandfather would have loved.

I met Giovanni Milandri from GO Assistive Technology at a conference in Oxford last year and we immediately clicked. While studying for their PhD at Imperial College London, Giovanni and his co-founder Clément Favier developed a fully mechanical, lightweight and affordable knee joint, the most difficult part of a prosthetic leg. I accompanied the founders to the Rebuild Ukraine exhibition last year and saw the plug-and-play operation first-hand. This is a prosthesis that can be used for work, gardening and even swimming. It can even be maintained using bicycle parts and tools. And it comes with a smartphone app to make customer service easier.

Today, millions of people still lose their legs to war, landmines, accidents and health problems such as diabetes. The prosthetic market is expected to grow from $2 billion in 2023 to $3 billion in 2032.

The world needs an affordable and practical solution like the one provided by Go Assistive Tech.

GO is giving people back their mobility and shaping the prosthetics industry.

I am very proud to be part of GO's journey as it builds Human Capital, Social Capital and Financial Capital.

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