Health Tech VC to Launch 2nd Fund Focused on Young Start-Ups
Health Tech Venture Capital Firm Nina Capital Announces Five More Investments and Launches Second Fund Set to Reach EUR40 Million ($47.4 Million)
Nina Capital, a specialized venture capital (VC) firm focused on health technology, announced its last five investments of its first fund and the launch of its second fund, Nina Capital Fund II FCRE, with an investment goal of EUR 40 million, or approximately USD 47.4 million.
Nina Capital was founded in 2019 with its inaugural fund, Nina Capital Fund I FCRE, which reached its maximum size of EUR 18 million (USD 21.3 million). In less than two years, Nina Capital has created an international portfolio of 23 companies in the U.S., Canada, and 11 European countries. To date, the firm has analyzed more than 2,000 health tech companies in pre-seed, seed, and Series A stages.
“This second fund is a natural continuation of our first, building on our geographical footprint and large, strategic flow of investment opportunities at the intersection of healthcare and technology,” says Marta-Gaia Zanchi, PhD, founder and managing partner at Nina Capital. “We are a purpose-built team with the necessary complementary expertise in healthcare, technology, and finance, applying the principles of need-driven investing to identify the best health tech startups in their earliest stages of development—regardless of where they are, but with strong conviction that Europe is poised as a unique foundational ground for the next wave of breakout companies.”
For example, the following are the five most recent and last pre-seed and seed companies whose funding agreements closed in the first fund:
- The Lowdown (United Kingdom). A pre-seed company, The Lowdown is an online platform with multiple information layers and services to facilitate access to the right reproductive contraception method, including a telemedicine service portal and a prescription process integrated with a pharmacy.
- Promptly Health (Portugal). Promptly Health is a seed-stage company that aggregates clinical and claim data and complements it with real-world evidence and analysis of outcomes to enable the transition to value-based payment contracts, all with a patient-centric vision.
- Zetta Genomics (United Kingdom & Spain). Zetta Genomics has created a flexible, scalable and secure platform that enables ease of accessibility and integration of genomics data, even in clinical settings, in the face of continuous advances in genomic sequencing techniques.
- Lena (United States). Lena, a seed-stage company born out of the Texas Medical Center, has developed a way to digitize health assistants for senior care navigation by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) in order to make personalized care navigation scalable.
- Undisclosed (Europe). This undisclosed company is seed-stage and accelerates the clinical diagnostic pathway for atrial fibrillation by providing convenient, automated electrocardiogram interpretation to healthcare professionals.
“The quality of startups in Europe is much higher than it once was,” said Marc Subirats, partner at Nina Capital, who founded a telehealth company acquired by Teladoc in 2018. “Our ambitions are international, and our network is strong in Europe, the U.S., Canada and Israel. We expect our companies to have equally broad geographical ambitions, coupled with the deep understanding of healthcare industry needs, a strong evidence-based approach, and compelling health economics.”
Consistent High-Growth Focus
Nina Capital Fund II FCRE will maintain the firm’s focus of investing in health technology companies in the pre-seed and seed investment stages with the capacity to reach Series A. As its predecessor fund, Nina Capital Fund II FCRE will target need-driven businesses that deliver innovative and highly scalable solutions built to address the pain points of providers and other healthcare organizations. The value-based process of new venture creation known as Biodesign, born at Stanford University, remains core to the firm’s investment approach.
The firm expects to hold a first closing for its newly registered fund in the fall. “We have the excellent support of our existing investor base, plus new investors who have taken notice of our ability to seek, find, and serve the right design-minded and cross-disciplinary founders,” said Dr. Zanchi. Nina Capital Fund II FCRE is expanding its investor base with funds from other investment firms, international family offices, as well as individual investors with finance, management, and healthcare backgrounds, she added.
“Nina Capital continues to grow by both the size of our company portfolio and the number of investor partners due to our clearly defined positioning in a fast-growing, ever-changing market,” said Dr. Zanchi. “Most importantly, we have assembled the right team and right competencies to invest with strong conviction based on deep sector expertise and startup business development strategies. Our second fund will continue to demonstrate the strength of our team as well as the bright future of the entrepreneurs we fund.”