Healthcare venture capital firm 7wireVentures, led by Glen Tullman and Lee Shapiro, raised $217 million to "double down" on its digital health investments and place its next big bets on later-stage startups.
The raise brings the firm's total assets under management to more than $500 million, according to a blog post.
7wireVentures will use its Growth & Opportunity Fund (GO Fund) to support its existing portfolio as well as invest in other series B and C companies.
The firm has already completed three investments out of the fund, including its current portfolio company, NOCD, a specialty mental health company focused on obsessive-compulsive disorder, FOLX Health, a virtual healthcare platform uniquely designed to address the needs of the LGBTQIA+ community and Parsley Health, a specialized virtual clinic designed to provide care to complex chronic patients.
Other companies in 7wireVentures' portfolio including Brightline, a tech-enabled behavioral health company, at-home car provider MedArrive, Jasper, an end-to-end cancer care platform, Tullman's newest venture Transcarent and digital digestive health startup Vivante Health, which just raised $31 million in series B funding.
“We are excited to announce the successful closing of our new Growth & Opportunity Fund – affirming investors’ continuing belief in our consumer-driven digital health approach,” said Tullman, managing partner, in the blog post. “After nearly a decade of success, we are now prepared to double down on some of our fastest growing and most impactful companies while we continue to widen our aperture to exceptional later growth-stage opportunities across the industry.”
Armed with fresh cash, 7wireVentures sees massive opportunities in the digital health sector, despite the downturn in the market that has seen digital health funding levels drop to pre-pandemic levels. In the third quarter of 2023, U.S. digital health startups raised $2.5 billion across 119 deals, the second-lowest quarter by funding total since the fourth quarter of 2019, according to an analysis by Rock Health. Even as the market stabilizes, there are sectors emerging as bright spots and attracting investor attention.
The firm specifically eyes opportunities to invest in "consumer-first, tech-enabled health and care solutions."
"The need for the digital transformation of healthcare continues to grow in importance and there are meaningful opportunities to invest in companies leading that shift," the firm's executives said in the blog post.
Founded over a decade ago, 7wireVentures has built a portfolio of over 20 companies. One of its most prominent investments was digital chronic care management company Livongo, which telehealth giant Teladoc acquired in an $18.5 billion deal in 2020.