Wellstar Innovation Fund Seeks to Make 50 Investments in Startups
Georgia-based Wellstar Health System has launched a $100 million venture fund. Catalyst by Wellstar aims to make more than 50 direct investments in early-stage startups, pre-seed to Series A, over the next five years and invest indirectly in more than 150 startups through limited partner investments with venture and growth equity funds.
These investments will be made in companies that align with the six focus areas of Catalyst:
- Customer experience
- Data, analytics and security
- Digital health
- Future of work
- Supply chain, logistics and mobility
- Sustainability
“Wellstar’s long history of innovation and world-class care uniquely positions Catalyst to mentor and grow startups,” said Hank Capps, M.D., president of Catalyst by Wellstar and executive vice president, chief information and digital officer at nine-hospital Wellstar Health System, in a statement. “In these challenging times, we need bold innovations and those closest to the patient driving the changes that will make the most difference for each patient, our communities, and the healthcare industry."
Catalyst by Wellstar’s first four direct investments include:
Marani Health: This women’s care company is focused on ensuring mothers get optimal care 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from pre-natal through post-natal stages of birthing. The proprietary and FDA-approved sensors in Marani’s fetal monitoring device called the MWrap, have been shown to significantly outperform existing technology, Wellstar said, adding that Marani is also the only company on the market that pairs a monitoring device with a patient-facing app and integrated clinical platform.
410 Medical: When minutes count, 410 Medical’s LifeFlow rapid infuser device helps save the lives of critically ill patients suffering from life-threatening bleeding (hemorrhagic shock). Wellstar’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is among the 20 EMS and 150 hospitals nationwide that use this technology.
Vyv: The devastating effects of COVID-19 reverberate to this day. Vyv’s mission is to protect as many people and places as possible using its patented UV-free antimicrobial LED technology to provide continuous decontamination, proven to kill enveloped and highly infectious viruses, such as the class of viruses that can cause COVID-19, along with bacteria, fungi, yeast, mold, mildew, and odor. Vyv technology can be used continuously around people and offers an extra layer of protection to keep patients and staff protected. Vyv’s commercial LED fixtures are designed to fit seamlessly into many standard healthcare applications and have been shown to reduce surface contamination by 90-99.99 percent through Vyv white light illumination.
MetaCX: This startup is a decentralized, multi-stakeholder software platform that provides a framework for Catalyst to drive collaboration across Wellstar’s nine hospitals and five health parks to collect and understand distributed data, align stakeholders on shared strategic plans, and monitor progress toward desired outcomes. MetaCX’s scope of work with Catalyst ranges from sustainability initiatives to employee wellness to digital transformation.
Catalyst said it would also be looking across industries for breakthrough ideas that have the potential to transform healthcare. These investment efforts will complement Catalyst’s innovation company, offering startups access and mentorship to achieve an even greater impact on the healthcare industry.
Catalyst’s partners, such as Goodie Nation, are bringing mentorship, visibility, and access to capital to underrepresented and minority founders. Catalyst has also invested in many startups through its partnership with Engage VC, an innovation and venture platform whose partners include Chick-fil-A, Coca-Cola, Cox Enterprises, Delta, Georgia Tech, and Invesco, among other lorganizations investing in the startup ecosystem of the Southeast. This partnership has resulted in 10 pilot projects and five enterprise contracts with Wellstar, and the direct investment in MetaCX.
