NextPlay Technologies, Inc. , a digital business ecosystem for consumers, digital advertisers, video gamers and travelers, announced today the plans to form the MedTrek Fund, which is expected to be a blockchain securitized closed-end fund. The fund once formed, is anticipated to seek to list on multiple regulated exchanges, subject to regulatory approval.

The Company has designed a new class of medical facilities that integrates unique geometries and technologies it believes will reduce the spread of infection.

According to a World Health Organization (“WHO”) report in 2019, an estimated 7 percent of hospitalized patients in high-income countries and 10% of hospitalized patients in low- and middle-income countries will acquire one or more health care-associated infections (“HAIs”) at any given time.

The new class of medical facilities, planned to be developed by the Fund, is expected to combine proprietary physical designs and technologies with the goal of protecting patients from the spread of infection and harm from physical intrusion.

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The Company believes that the Fund, once formed, will have the ability to offer facilities designed to lower the likelihood of infection for four medical asset classes including primary care, tertiary care, long term care and resort convalescent facilities. The Fund is also expected to invest in wellness-oriented residential and commercial facilities that are integrated with the proposed physical and technological layers.

NextPlay is in discussions with prime landowners in several countries to contribute their property assets to the proposed Fund. These countries, including Thailand which had the world’s largest share of medical tourism in 2019 (according to the Grandview Research report discussed below), have experienced significant declines in tourism due to COVID-19, but are expected to have robust medical tourism growth in the coming years. Additionally, NextPlay is also in discussions with certain medical service providers located around the world who are interested in offering services in facilities that resist infection spread, and offer a higher level of physical security.

The Fund’s initial focus is expected to be Southeast Asia where we believe such facilities are most likely to benefit from expected growth in medical tourism. According to Grandview Research, the medical tourism market is expected to grow from $44.8 billion in 2019 to $207.9 billion by 2027, with Thailand currently having the largest market share.

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Bill Kerby, co-CEO of NextPlay, stated, “The MedTrek Token is planned to be the first of several crypto-securitized alternative assets that we expect to issue through our FinTech division which includes our indirect ownership in Longroot Holding (Thailand) Company Limited. Through our efforts to date, we believe we have identified opportunities in medical tourism and its adjacencies.  Leveraging on our partners’ significant understanding of real estate development, we believe that we can help catalyze on the growth potential we see in medical tourism by using common sense design and the deployment of latest technologies including Internet of Things and Machine Learning.”

The planned Fund discussed above has not been formed to date, and such formation and anticipated benefits and offerings, are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, and may not progress on the timeline as currently anticipated, or at all.