Optum launches $250M fund to invest in digital health companies

Optum, UnitedHealth Group’s health services business unit, has launched a $250 million fund to invest in healthcare technology innovation.

Called Optum Ventures, the fund—with offices in Boston and Menlo Park, Calif.—will provide capital investment as well as strategic guidance to startup and early-stage digital health companies.

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The new fund’s initial investments include:

• Apervita, which provides a cloud-based platform to build, deliver and scale health analytics and data applications.
• Buoy Health, whose artificial intelligence analyzes thousands of real-world data points drawn from the same medical literature that physicians study to resemble the dynamic and nuanced experience of chatting with a doctor.
• Mindstrong Health, which uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to assess a patient’s smartphone interactions to help diagnose and treat neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders such as depression, schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder.
• SHYFT Analytics, whose cloud-based data and analytics platform for life sciences companies enables them to reduce cost and risk while increasing clinical and commercial performance, with a focus on oncology, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other specialty and rare disorders

“Optum Ventures is uniquely positioned to help develop and grow startups and early-stage companies through capital investment, Optum’s decades of experience in healthcare, and our access to the healthcare marketplace,” said Larry Renfro, CEO of Optum and Managing Partner of Optum Ventures. “Optum Ventures will be the partner of choice for companies developing innovations that help make healthcare work better for everyone.”