17 Health Systems Team With Abundant Venture Partners
Chicago-based Abundant Venture Partners said it is partnering with 17 health systems to build sustainable companies that benefit healthcare providers.
The firm said its platform accelerates commercialization through the Abundant Venture Studio, ensures rapid adoption via its alliance of healthcare providers, and drives scale with aligned capital through provider-backed seed and series A venture funds.
ChristianaCare, Kettering Health, Medical University of South Carolina, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, MedStar Health, and Sharp HealthCare, are among the health systems joining the Alliance. Others listed as partners on the firm’s website include Basset Healthcare Network, OSF HealthCare, Confluence Health, St. Luke’s University Health Network, MemorialCare, Northwell Health, WellSpan Health, and the University of Kansas Health System.
“Health systems have taken unnecessary risk and haven’t been rewarded adequately for their work with early stage ventures,” said Harry Kirschner, CEO of the Abundant Alliance, in a statement. “After decades of reacting to the market and choosing what new innovations to ‘bet on,’ healthcare providers can now be in the driver seat and work closely with their peers to de-risk and accelerate the operational and equity impact from work with early stage ventures.”
“We came to Abundant with a concept and IP that demonstrated great outcomes at our health system, yet we knew it had broader potential,” said William Sheahan, chief innovation officer at MedStar Health, in a statement. “Abundant uniquely positioned us to explore and launch a new company with other providers signed on as co-developers, investors, and customers.”
Abundant says it only backs companies that have been vetted to address critical challenges that drive sustainable value and create equity earning opportunities for healthcare providers.
“Our partnership with Abundant has accelerated our health system’s efforts to get more involved with evaluating and adopting ‘outside-in’ solutions with demonstrated outcomes while also creating a platform for our internal teams to focus our ‘inside-out’ innovations on capabilities with broader appeal,” said Michael Gentry, CEO of Kettering Health, in a statement. “It’s great to be part of a collaborative where health systems drive the strategy and stand to reap the benefits.”
Other venture firms have developed similar relationships with health systems. In January 2024, Aegis Ventures, a New York-based venture studio focused on health IT and healthcare artificial intelligence, announced plans to develop a “Digital Consortium,” a group of health systems partnering to build, launch, and deploy digital health products addressing challenges in care delivery and operational efficiency. It started with an alliance of nine systems: Endeavor Health, Indiana University Health, Memorial Hermann Health System, Northwell Health, Novant Health, Ochsner Health, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Sharp HealthCare, and Stanford Health Care. Later it added UPMC Enterprises and Vanderbilt Health.
Abundant said it plans to select up to 10 additional healthcare provider organizations to join the Alliance and is actively reviewing early-stage startups and entrepreneurs for Platform evaluation.
Abundant’s portfolio of companies includes ThirdEye Health, a network of board-certified physicians for virtual post-acute care, and Playback Health, an AI scribe app for physicians.
