The VOYAGERS Health-Tech microfund
VOYAGERS is a by-invitation community in which 1,500 exceptional people from more than 30 countries build close connections and pledge actively to support each other. Members participate in weekend adventures, dinners and meetups, backed up by extensive online networking. Our goal through these not-for-profit activities is to enable deep peer support and accelerate members’ positive impact. A significant number of our members work in health-tech: startup founders, investors, accomplished entrepreneurs, regulators and board directors. The VOYAGERS Health-Tech Fund, a $1.7m community microfund, is a way for the community to support ambitious health-tech and life-science startups. We are currently investing. March 2022 update: We have now deployed the fund.
VOYAGERS has built a trusted community of 500 accomplished people working in health-tech and life sciences. The fund pools the community’s networks and knowledge to identify and invest in startups with huge potential to transform health and create value.
The fund invested up to $75,000 each in 23 early-stage companies in health-tech and life sciences over a two-year investment period. Investments were in many geographies.
Members of the VOYAGERS community have developed close connections over weekend retreats and on- and off-line meetups. They include founders of exceptional companies such as Synthace, Commure, Proximie, Ezra and Cerebral; investors from Lakestar, OMERS, Hoxton Ventures and Crowberry Capital; executives from the NHS, Google X and Genomics England; and research leaders at ETH, Stanford and Harvard. The fund leverages these extensive global networks to source, assess and then actively help the most ambitious early-stage health-tech and life-science startups with the potential to become impactful, valuable companies. Founders of these startups are welcomed into the community and invited on trips, as are all fund investors.
We’ve re-thought how VC funds normally operate to leverage the power of community. We believe the close, trusted relationships built among VOYAGERS members give the fund an edge: access to a vast global network (for deal-flow, introductions and access to expertise); to market data; to capital; to influencer and media channels. The community will:
•Source deal-flow from our extensive international networks and make introductions to recommended companies suitable for investment
•Thoroughly and openly assess these companies and their teams during the due-diligence process
•Share our advice, experience and contacts in order to accelerate the progress of invested companies
•Help with follow-on funding (funds represented in the community include Lakestar, Hoxton Ventures, Omers, Crowberry Capital and more, managing $ billions).
We believe we are at the early stage of a vast growth curve for companies leveraging machine learning, bioinformatics and genomics to transform treatment, diagnostics and digital healthcare more widely. There were 42 healthcare unicorns in 2020 valued at $97.8bn, according to CB Insights. Over the fund’s lifetime, we expect this number to rise significantly. And we intend to be part of this discovery process.
These opportunities are spread across geographies. The talent is distributed.
We see transformative approaches to telehealth, mental health, women’s health, regenerative medicine and more. From liquid biopsy to AI-driven oncology, this is a life-enhancing and -extending era.
The fund invested in companies that:
•Are solving a meaningful healthcare problem with the potential to benefit significant numbers of people
•Are using technology or biotechnology in effective and innovative ways
•Are led by founders motivated by a clear mission that goes beyond financial goals, and with a strong personal sense of ethics and values
•Have the potential to become $100m+ businesses
•Are at a relatively early stage of their journey, typically Pre-Seed, Seed or Series A stage
•Will be a good fit in the VOYAGERS community.
Participants in the VOYAGERS Health-Tech Fund:
•Gain early investment access to a portfolio of potentially high-growth and mission-led companies
•Benefit from follow-on investment opportunities reserved for fund members
•Play a role in developing innovations that save lives
•Join a community of experts who actively help the companies’ teams in concrete ways, leveraging your experience and personal networks
•Strengthen their understanding of market trends
•Receive regular updates from companies and the fund
•Be invited to VOYAGERS retreats, events & dinners.
Companies taking investment from the VOYAGERS Health-Tech Fund will:
•Benefit from highly motivated investors with strong experience of the sector
•Gain access to the community for expert advice, introductions and practical support
•Be welcomed into the VOYAGERS community and invited to weekend retreats, events & dinners to benefit from networking and mentoring
•Gain opportunities for further funding via special purpose vehicles and access to later-stage VCs
•Become part of our global support network of “givers” motivated to be helpful
•Be encouraged in turn to help others in the network, and to introduce founders for future investments.
