Moscow based startup incubator Fast Lane Ventures has just launched VitaPortal.ru, a website offering health news for the general public, inspired by the success of Western sites such as WebMD.com.
With approximately 50 new articles on various health and medical topics published daily, VitaPortal already has a significant content base. The site offers, in particular, information on diseases and drugs, addresses of medical institutions and pharmacies, articles and interviews on medical topics. Ten thematic communities – showing little activity for the moment – allow users to ask questions to medical professionals.
The site claims it has official partnerships with major medical research centers and community organizations as well as with the Russian Ministry of Health.
The Russian Internet is already filled with a wide variety of medical sites like Medportal.ru, MedKrug.ru or the health section of Mail.ru, Russia’s leading portal and mail service. But “none of them allows users to find reliable information all in one place in such a short time,” Fast Lane PR manager Lada Shcherbakova told East-West Digital News.
VitaPortal also claims to be the only site to have “every published article checked by a specialized physician.”
The portal’s business model relies essentially on advertising and sponsorship. Fast Lane’s investment amounts to $1 million, Shcherbakova said to EWDN.
VitaPortal aims to attract 3.5 million users by the end of 2011 and to become the number one health portal by 2013, said its CEO Azamat Ulbashav.
Fast Lane Ventures was founded in Moscow last year by two Western businessmen, French serial entrepreneur Pascal Clément and KupiVIP.ru founder Oskar Hartmann.
The incubator claims it brings projects from the idea stage to completion in a mere “50 days.” Among its recent projects are Jizo.ru, a metasearch engine for air tickets and Upladder.ru, an online premium job search service.
