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| It’s rare to see a new healthcare venture firm these days; checks tend to come from the same few big firms. One we’ve been following, though, is Healthier Capital, which launched in 2024 by former One Medical CEO Amir Dan Rubin. |
| Healthier Capital just raised its first $220 million fund, managing to do it at a time when limited partners have been looking elsewhere for returns. The response from the LPs was “super strong,” Rubin told me — the fund was initially targeting $150 million — and he attributed enthusiasm to the deep operating expertise on Healthier Capital’s bench. (Beyond One Medical, Rubin and his three partners have held roles at Optum, CVS Health, McKinsey and several leading health systems.) |
| “We make the peanut butter sandwiches and plunge the toilets,” Rubin said. |
| Healthier Capital invests in early stage companies that “are fundamentally solving big problems in healthcare, leveraging innovative technology and business models to do that,” Rubin said. It’s backed nine startups, recently leading the $110 million Series A for Zarminali, a pediatric care practice using tech to coordinate care and automate workflows for clinicians. |
| A big theme for Rubin is AI, which he believes has a “massive” opportunity in healthcare. Already, Healthier Capital has invested in Ezra, the MRI company Function Health bought, which uses AI to slash the time needed to complete scans. And Hyro, another investment, offers AI agents to handle tasks for health systems including scheduling appointments and refilling prescriptions. |
| Rubin’s also got his eye on the CMS Innovation Center model called ACCESS that will test a new way of paying for tech-enabled care for Medicare patients with chronic conditions. Even for digital health startups that haven’t historically worked with Medicare, the model could be a good way for them to build up their evidence base to show their solutions work, he said. |
| - Shelby |
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