in Peoria, Illinois OSF Healthcare was one of the first U.S. health systems to establish a dedicated venture capital arm, and promote, caesar forever and Providence. Since its establishment in 2015, OSF Ventures Has invested in 28 startups, 9 of which have successfully exited.
Last week, the investment sector Got a new leader. Mayank Taneja becomes VP of Investments for Health Systems, succeeding Stan Lynall, who founded and previously led OSF Ventures. In his new role, Taneja is responsible for managing $250 million in assets across three funds.
Taneja has a strong medical background.He practises internal medicine in India and works in post-market risk monitoring Zimmer Biomet Before joining OSF in 2014. He started working on OSF’s Usability Services team, helping startups trial their technology and conduct clinical studies, before transitioning to OSF Ventures in 2016 as one of the earliest members of his team.
Leadership change comes five months after OSF board officially recognized Another $100 million fund goes to its venture capital arm. This is the third fund allocation to OSF Ventures, following two $75 million funds approved in 2015 and 2019. Taneja said his team will continue to use the funds to invest in startups specializing in medical devices, diagnostics and digital health. OSF Ventures typically invests about $2 million in each startup, with a similar amount set aside for follow-on investments as companies raise more capital.
“The overarching theme is that we only invest in startups that have strategic value to the system,” he said.
Currently, Taneja said, OSF Ventures is focused on investing in startups that want to provide care outside the hospital’s four walls through alternative care methods such as telehealth or at-home hospitals. The venture fund ensures that the startups it invests in offer an integrated platform that captures the patient journey from start to finish and combines multiple solutions into a single product.
“We’re working hard to support the operations team and see how we can do more with less in terms of staffing and resources, while still being able to deliver consistently,” he said.
The venture capital arm is also focusing investments on startups focused on workforce retention. According to Taneja, OSF Ventures is looking for solutions designed to optimize staffing, improve workforce retention and help suppliers recruit from channels they have traditionally not done outreach.
For the startups it invests in, OSF is not only a financial growth partner, but also a product and service development partner. In determining which startups its funding should go to, Taneja said his team only selects startups that offer products that they can envision OSF successfully deploying. The health system conducts clinical trials of its portfolio companies as they work toward FDA approval, and deploys or pilots FDA-approved technologies provided by other portfolio companies. For example, OSF Ventures are cooperating and epithelium Help it commercialize its wireless wearable brainwave monitoring device to detect seizures.
To analyze potential portfolio companies, the review team meets weekly to review five or six startups. This multidisciplinary team includes clinicians, IT team members and members of OSF Ventures. When reviewing whether a company’s technology will serve the health system, the review team discusses whether the technology can be effectively applied to OSF’s workflow, and whether the startup can provide evidence of its value proposition.
Taneja said his team will stick with the process because it has worked so well for them so far. Nine of the 28 companies backed by OSF Ventures successfully exited, including Best Buyof Buy of current health status and Anwellof get of Silver Cloud Health.
When OSF Ventures’ portfolio companies go public or are acquired, revenue earned by OSF always goes back to the state coffers to further the health system’s mission, Taneja said.
Photo: James Bray, Getty Images
