It has been an important past year of growth for Tamir Meiri, director of venture investments at Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC. Organisational changes at the corporate venture unit led to an increase in Meiri’s responsibilities and a jump in deal flow and board seats.
Meiri focuses on Medtech investing at Johnson & Jonson Innovation, the CVC arm of the US healthcare company. “In his first full year as director, he has continued to grow his influence in the medtech space through a variety of activities. Having been an investor in Israel and now the US, he has a variety of investment experiences,” says Biren Mehta, vice president, venture investments at Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC.
Meiri says he likes to focus on building relationships with his companies, but also between startups and business units at the J&J. “There’s a lot of internal know-how we can provide to the company, from R&D to supply chain, clinical and manufacturing that can help benefit the company’s trajectory.”
“We help connect some of the founders if there is some overlap in expertise that can contribute to the other company, especially if they’re operating in different domains.”
He also helps to build relationships between the various portfolio companies, which can boost growth and technical expertise among the startups. “We help connect some of the founders if there is some overlap in expertise that can contribute to the other company, especially if they’re operating in different domains.”
Meiri was based in his home country of Israel when he joined JJDC as an analyst in 2013, focusing on deals across Europe and Israel. The unit promoted him to Senior Manager five years later and he moved to California after he was made a Director in August 2021.
Meiri’s role covers investments in western North America, as well as Australia and New Zealand. Among his investments are medical device OEM-focused data security platform MedCrypt, and surgeon-focused robotic system developer Moon Surgical.
His plans this year include targeting earlier-stage ventures, especially in orthopaedics and vision care.
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