About
Why we believe in The Guardian
Sometimes intensive care patients need to be transported; to be repatriated or relocated to a hospital better equipped for optimal care. Currently, the only solution is the utilization of private air ambulances, which for intercontinental transfers, proves to be inefficient and consequently (often too) costly. Air ambulances also produce a lot of CO2.
The team at the Guardian believes commercial airline flights are a superior alternative to air ambulances; lowering the cost to patients, insurance companies and society at large, while eliminating the CO2 emissions by private air ambulances. Scroll down to know more about how The Guardian team embarked on this journey.
Rogier van Beugen
Job van den Bosch
Chief Medical Officer
NLC Health
Early stage health investor
How the company started
Job is an intensive care doctor and has been involved with transporting intensive care patients for almost 20 years. During repatriation of a patient in a private air ambulance, it struck Job how cumbersome and inefficient the process was, whilst there were so many commercial airlines flying on this route too. With this need in mind, in 2014, Job embarked on a mission to realise a product that could use existing airline flights as (temporary) air ambulances, and the idea behind the Guardian was born.
In 2017, Job and Rogier met while Job was pitching his concept at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, where Rogier was working at the time. Realising the challenges, Rogier was sceptical at first. But by 2024, Job had enriched and further developed the concept and Rogier became convinced that The Guardian can benefit all stakeholders; patients, airlines and insurance companies, that are often involved in organizing the transportation (and footing the bill).
It helped that Rogier had experience building a company; after leaving KLM in 2019, Rogier successfully helped a startup company to grow into a global niche player, doubling growth annually despite the Covid pandemic.
In 2023, NLC also got invested in the idea and committed itself to help launch The Guardian concept. NLC is the largest early stage health care investor in Europe, and has helped to launch 150+ heath care ventures since its inception in 2017.