Healthcare startup pioneer, W Health Ventures, announces the deployment of $70 million for Fund II, intended to boost and nurture fledgling ventures in the healthcare sector.
W Health Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Boston and India, has announced the launch of its second fund with a target corpus of $70 million (Rs 609 crore). The firm, which focuses on backing early-stage startups in the healthcare and healthtech sectors across India and the United States, aims to achieve the first close of Fund II in the next couple of months.
According to Dr. Pankaj Jethwani, managing partner at W Health Ventures, the firm is not a healthtech fund, but a healthcare fund. Its goal is to build companies that can change the standard of care for millions of patients. The firm's strategy includes offering hands-on support in research and development, MVP development, go-to-market strategy, and clinical partnerships.
W Health Ventures has already made two investments from Fund II. One of these investments is Everhope Oncology, a platform for improving cancer care delivery in India. Everhope Oncology is building solutions in chemotherapy, surgical oncology, diagnostics, and ongoing supportive care. The partners, W Health Ventures and Narayana Health, have jointly invested around $10 million in Everhope Oncology.
The other investment is a psychiatry-focused startup operating in stealth mode, structured as a cross-border, US-India managed services platform. This startup supports psychiatry clinics in the United States with practice management, outcome tracking, and revenue optimization.
Dr. Jethwani stated that healthcare innovation in India remains 10-15 years behind global benchmarks. To address this gap, W Health Ventures plans to support eight to ten early-stage startups over the next four years. The average cheque size in Fund I ranged from $1 million to $5 million, but Fund II will lean towards larger bets and deeper involvement in operations.
W Health Ventures was founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneur and philanthropist Sunil Wadhwani. With Fund II, the firm aims to deepen its commitment to building businesses from scratch, moving beyond traditional investing. The firm's thesis builds on leveraging India's engineering and clinical talent to power global healthcare delivery.
To achieve this, W Health Ventures is expanding its team with four new senior operating partners who bring experience in offline care delivery, AI-enabled services, and US GTM strategy. Dr. Prakash Patel will be involved in building a new team at W Health Ventures as one of these four new Senior Operating Partners.
The portfolio companies of W Health Ventures have collectively served more than 25 million patients globally. The firm's investments from Fund I have been diverse, with a focus on areas such as telemedicine, diagnostics, and digital therapeutics.
With the launch of Fund II, W Health Ventures aims to continue its mission of backing innovative healthcare and healthtech startups and contributing to the improvement of healthcare delivery across the globe. The firm's second fund will place special emphasis on segments such as oncology, psychiatry, geriatric care, longevity, and preventive health.
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