OSF Ventures launches $100M innovation investment fund, its largest to date

OSF Ventures, the investment arm of Illinois-based OSF HealthCare, announced this week the launch of a $100 million fund targeting early innovations that could be deployed within the health system.

The fund is OSF Ventures’ third capital investment fund and its largest. To date, the program has made 26 direct investments and seen nine successful exits.

OSF Ventures now holds $250 million in assets under management and has an active portfolio of 17 companies.

"Our actual hands-on use in piloting the technology, or collaborating in other ways, is what we value in the process. This allows us to provide meaningful feedback that results in our portfolio companies developing successful solutions that are really valuable to our patient base," said Stan Lynall, vice president of venture investments at OSF Ventures, in a statement.

"Scaling investments through partnerships and practical collaborations with budding tech companies from across the globe helps us bring emerging health care solutions to OSF HealthCare clinics and hospitals, most often before they are broadly marketed and deployed," he said.

OSF Ventures targets digital health products, tech-enabled services and various medical technologies for its investments.

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Lynall’s team has vetted nearly 1,500 potential investment targets since kicking off the program in 2016 and counts health tech names like SilverCloud Health, Current Health, Level Ex and Health Catalyst among its exiting class. Outside of direct investments, the group has also invested in three other healthcare-focused venture capital funds.

The venture program’s funds have been “a key component” of OSF HealthCare’s broader push to foster and eventually adopt healthcare innovations out of startups and entrepreneurs, according to the announcement.

SilverCloud’s online and app-based behavioral health platform, for instance, was piloted and later fully implemented across the 15-hospital system.

Similarly, OSF OnCall Digital Health CEO and Chief Strategy Officer Michelle Conger said her young healthcare navigation platform has also benefited from early adoption and feedback from the investment program and health system.

“We had a head start in the early days of the pandemic, because we had already vetted solutions and had strategically planned for implementing several of the new communication tools we deployed, albeit at an accelerated pace,” she said in a statement. “We were prepared because of our long-range innovation plan, including important investments and collaborations through OSF Ventures."

"We are fortunate to have leaders who are highly committed to innovation at OSF HealthCare," Lynall said.