New Delhi, Sept. 8 -- Healthcare-focussed venture capital firm W Health Ventures has announced the final close of its second fund, exceeding the initial target, as it doubles down on its "company creation" model with the aim to build 8-10 startups over the next four years.
The VC firm, which had targeted a final close within 6-12 weeks of the fund's first close in February this year, announced the final close at Rs 700 crore ($74 million), surpassing its initial target of Rs 630 crore. The fund will back companies from the "pre-idea" stage to category leadership.
W Health Ventures, which has offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Boston, plans to strengthen its "found and fund" strategy by investing in India's single-specialty healthcare businesses and AI-enabled healthcare solutions serving the US market.
The final close follows the firm's first close in February, when it raised Rs 550 crore ($60 million then) for investments across the US-India healthcare corridor. W health had rolled out the second fund in July last year with a target corpus of $70 million and a greenshoe option of $30 million.
Founded in 2020, W Health Ventures invests in early-stage healthcare companies. To date, it has backed 14 startups across India and the US, including Wysa, BeatO, Mylo, Reveal, and Hoola Health (formerly BabyMD).
The firm works closely with its venture studio, 2070 Health, to build healthcare companies from scratch, including Nivaan Care. Last year, it also invested in a joint venture with Narayana Health and 2070 Health to launch Everhope Oncology, which subsequently raised $10 million in seed funding.
"We're not importing a Silicon Valley playbook and hoping it works here. We go to the parts of the healthcare system where the structural mismatch is the highest, and we stay with that problem for a year, sometimes longer, chipping away at it before we build anything," said Pankaj Jethwani, managing partner at W Health Ventures.
With the second fund, W Health plans to invest Rs 30-50 crore in each incubation and build two-three new companies every year.
Speaking at the first close in February, Jethwani said the fund's investor base comprises family offices, institutions, and corporates from the US and India. The limited partner (LP) base is "heavily skewed" toward US-based investors, with "a decent chunk from India as well," he had said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.