MedCity INVEST Ask the Investor Highlight: Jane Rho of DaVita Enterprise Group

On the MedCity INVEST convention, scheduled for Could 22-24 on the Ritz Carlton in Chicago, healthcare and life science startups have the chance to community and interact in salon-style discussions with traders. These Ask the Investor periods will probably be held throughout the breakfast segments of INVEST on the mornings of Tuesday, Could 23 and Wednesday, Could 24. Startups must register to take part.

Click on right here to register.

We’re spotlighting a few of the traders participating in these periods. Jane Rho is director of the enterprise fund for DaVita Venture Group. She responded to a collection of e mail questions offering a short overview of DaVita’s funding technique and what she seems to be for in startups. This alternate has been calmly edited.

What’s your agency’s funding technique? How, if in any respect, has that modified lately?

DaVita Enterprise Group invests in early-stage healthcare startups throughout tech-enabled providers (e.g., for ailments reminiscent of diabetes and cardiovascular), digital well being (e.g., doctor and affected person engagement), and renal innovation (e.g., units, diagnostics). Our fund sometimes targets Sequence A and past, nevertheless it additionally seems to be at some Seed stage offers as effectively. Our common examine dimension is $1-10 million with a desire to observe and never lead rounds. Investments are often made forward of the enterprise, however our fund stays strategically near investments with pilots and/or partnerships focused inside 18 months of investing.

What are 1-3 issues you desire to entrepreneurs pitching to you to maintain entrance of thoughts? 

Jane Rho

I like to recommend entrepreneurs take into consideration methods to synthesize what they’re constructing in a transparent assertion that features what the issue is and the way their answer is fixing it. I encourage to make this assertion as concise as potential, which is able to hopefully mirror the main target of the answer.

Secondly, the extra you may quantify what the issue is and the way your answer has quantified its affect, the extra compelling it may be. When you have information on outcomes, attempt to discover metrics that talk the distinctive engagement, scientific affect, and so forth. that your answer has.

What are a few of the simple fixes startups could make to enhance their pitch? 

I like to recommend approaching the “pitch” as a dialog vs. as a presentation. Typically, it may be a lot tougher to have interaction when there isn’t a chance to steer the dialog in a method that solutions the “burning questions.” A few of the finest pitches are when each the investor and entrepreneur come away feeling like they not solely loved the dialog, but in addition discovered one thing new.

What was the final firm you invested in (needn’t title them, you may describe what they do)?

Our final funding was in a startup known as Dock Health, which is constructing a process administration and workflow automation platform for suppliers. We’re actually excited how Dock will have the ability to assist DaVita care groups higher talk and collaborate with nephrology practices, notably in risk-based preparations.

What subsector of well being tech or life science are you excited by in the mean time?

It’s been nice to see digital and hybrid care fashions bringing extra accessible and customized care to high-risk sufferers, whereas understanding methods to leverage present in-person or conventional supplier touch-points. Our fund has not too long ago been exploring totally different illness classes reminiscent of pulmonary rehab, CHF, continual wound care, metabolic well being administration, and past. Whereas we’ve seen promising virtual-only platforms, a few of the fashions we’ve been enthusiastic about are taking extra of a hybrid or built-in method to maximise engagement. Fairly than making an attempt so as to add contact factors in a siloed method, I’ve appreciated fashions which have discovered methods to work throughout the present care mannequin to coordinate care, fill gaps, and combine insights again into the care plan. Ideally, we’ll see extra options which might be working to create a cohesive care expertise for each sufferers and suppliers.

Picture: Feodora Chiosea, Getty Pictures