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The group of smaller and medium-sized investors has been growing, and their value has never been clearer to founders and co-investors. They tend not to seek M&As, neutralising a concern that some startups have about having corporates on their cap table, while still bringing the advantage of corporate connections. They often place an even heavier emphasis on the health of the investment syndicate, as they may be in a worse position than larger funds if things fall through, and they often opt, for example, for observer seats over board seats. All in all, they are team players who can still open very important doors.
My guest today is Brian Armstrong, executive managing director of Ensemble Innovation Ventures. While Ensemble Innovation Ventures is the CVC arm of dental insurance company Delta Dental, the unit’s remit extends much farther across the entire healthcare spectrum, with a focus on B2B software solutions.
We talk about how, in a US healthcare system which is facing significant shortages in labour – such as a 250 thousand-strong shortfall in doctors and medical practioners as well as a similarly huge shortfall in nursing professionals – smaller funds can play a hugely important role in finding the technologies that can plug those gaps, going in at earlier stages to support innovative tech that focuses both on the patient-facing and back-office aspects of the system.
We also touch on other factors such as tightening margins, higher costs, and growing burnout are affecting the system, and how many problems exist that will require attention regardless of who wins in next month’s presidential election, regardless of whether the main candidates have very different views on what healthcare should look like.