VC fund Meridian Well being Ventures – previously KHP Ventures – has introduced the launch of a brand new transatlantic fund with whole Restricted Associate commitments of roughly €44.7 million.
The fund goals to supply HealthTech superscalers with each international and home progress alternatives, serving to UK improvements scale throughout the NHS and into the US healthcare market.
Dr Nadine Hachach-Haram, Co-Managing Associate at Meridian Well being Ventures, commented: “With this Fund, we wish to supercharge the expansion of probably the most promising improvements to allow them to ship direct advantages to the NHS’s sufferers and workforce, in addition to the broader UK economic system. By way of transatlantic collaboration, we’re additionally creating an setting the place formidable founders can scale at tempo – each domestically and internationally – bridging the hole between UK NHS and US healthcare techniques for a begin.”
Initially launched in 2021 as KHP Ventures, Meridian Well being Ventures is led by a group with expertise as entrepreneurs, buyers, operators, regulators, teachers, clinicians and business leaders. The fund’s portfolio contains fast-scaling HealthTech firms equivalent to Doccla, deepc, Patchwork, Tympa Well being, Apian, iFAST Diagnostics, PocDoc, Phare Well being, 52 North and MediShout.
The agency’s Normal Companions are Daniel Dickens, Dr Nadine Haram, Tim Irish, and Dr Pooja Sikka.
The agency has additionally invested in promising MedTech spinouts from main UK educational establishments together with Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial, King’s and Southampton. Notably, 12 NHS medical entrepreneurs are among the many founding groups of firms within the fund’s portfolio.
Collectively, these portfolio firms have deployed their options throughout greater than 100 NHS Trusts within the UK, with many additionally increasing globally. A number of are already partnering with main US well being techniques equivalent to Cedars-Sinai.
Daniel Dickens, Co-Managing Associate at Meridian Well being Ventures, mentioned: “As Founders ourselves, we’ve launched this Fund to make sure that the subsequent technology of HealthTech breakthroughs could be scaled within the UK, not simply invented right here. We’re proud to companion with this group of main well being techniques and healthcare buyers on each side of the Atlantic, and naturally to work with the pushed and proficient founding groups within the Fund’s portfolio.”
In keeping with Meridian Well being Ventures, scaling domestically stays a longstanding problem for UK-founded HealthTech firms. Many are compelled to relocate to the US for progress alternatives, leading to misplaced financial worth for the UK and missed probabilities for the NHS to profit from homegrown innovation.
Backed by main UK well being techniques together with Man’s and St Thomas’ NHS Basis Belief, King’s Faculty Hospital, and College Faculty London Hospitals – in addition to Cedars-Sinai Medical Middle within the US – the brand new fund helps high-potential HealthTech ventures to thrive each within the UK and internationally. Hartford HealthCare can be set to affix the fund imminently, signalling rising momentum on each side of the Atlantic.
Professor Ian Abbs, Chief Government Officer at Man’s and St Thomas’ NHS Basis Belief, famous: “The NHS is dealing with one of many greatest challenges in its historical past – learn how to proceed to ship high-quality care in opposition to a backdrop of rising demand, elevated affected person acuity and pressures on workforce and finance. The NHS just isn’t alone – most developed well being techniques are grappling with the identical basic questions.
“This crucial to innovate is why we determined to grow to be a founding establishment of KHP Ventures and an anchor Associate in Meridian Well being Ventures’ Fund. As a number one NHS organisation, we’re dedicated to harnessing accelerations in new digital and biomedical advances, such because the revolutionary start-ups that this Fund invests in, to ship higher, quicker and fairer healthcare for all.”
Meridian Well being Ventures is reportedly the primary NHS-anchored and transatlantic enterprise capital fund, centered on investing in medical innovators and enabling the adoption of transformative options at scale.
James D. Laur, JD, Chief Mental Property Officer at Cedars-Sinai and Managing Director of Cedars-Sinai Well being Ventures, added: “Our mission at Cedars-Sinai is to supply sufferers around the globe with the most effective care doable, and we consider that partnering with proficient innovators throughout the globe will assist us proceed to attain this. We now have labored with the Meridian Well being Ventures group within the UK for years and see their mission as deeply aligned with ours. We now have been impressed by the standard and depth of the HealthTech Founders of their portfolio, and are excited to construct on our collaboration as Companions within the Fund.”
In October 2024, the agency additionally launched Europe’s first devoted psychological well being tech fund – the Improvements in Psychological Well being (IMH) Fund – with the Wellcome Belief as anchor investor and in partnership with South London and Maudsley NHS Basis Belief. Collectively, the IMH Fund and the brand new transatlantic fund characterize Restricted Associate commitments totalling roughly €44.7 million.
Alex Trewby, CEO and Co-founder of Apian, a Meridian Well being Ventures portfolio firm, mentioned: “Apian’s story began within the NHS, and we’ve been lucky to develop alongside companions like Meridian Well being Ventures and Trusts like Man’s and St Thomas’ NHS Basis Belief. What started by the NHS Scientific Entrepreneur Programme has grown right into a mission with international attain – from our work with Zipline and Wing to delivering care to sufferers quicker. Meridian’s new transatlantic fund creates a win-win for sufferers, clinicians and well being tech founders like us.”
