Ascension Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of health system Ascension, closed its fourth fund yesterday at $255m, attracting 13 health systems as limited partners.
The investors are Adventist Health System, Carle Foundation, Catholic Health Initiatives, CentraCare Health, Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, Dignity Health, Inova Health System, Intermountain Healthcare, Mercy, Novant Health, OhioHealth and OSF Healthcare.
The fund, dubbed CHV IV, boosts Ascension Ventures’ total assets under management to more than $800m. The division was set up in 2001 and has so far backed 55 startups.
Ascension Ventures focuses on startups that develop products and services beneficial to health systems, particularly areas such as healthcare IT, healthcare services and medical devices.
Matt Hermann, senior managing director at Ascension Ventures, said: “In this time of continuous and monumental change, more health systems are seeking out ways to transform their businesses to be successful for the future healthcare reality.
“Our proven success of delivering benefit to our health system partners and our portfolio companies has enabled Ascension Ventures to become a critical component of the health venture ecosystem.”