OTV, formerly Olive Tree Ventures, closed its first fund of $170 million dedicated to digital health investments.
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The Israel-based firm touts itself as the country’s only “digital health first” venture capital firm. It was founded in 2015 by General Partners Mayer Gniwisch, Amir Lahat and Alejandro Weinstein. Prior to this fund, the firm was making investments personally, Lahat told Crunchbase News.
“We saw the combination of technology and health care as a great area to focus on,” he added. “We believe the domain will yield good financial returns, as well as make a big impact on the world.”
OTV invests in startups across Israel, the United States and now Asia after bringing on Jose Antonio Urrutia Rivas as its new head of Asia Pacific, an area where adoption of digital health technology is advancing, Lahat said. Rivas’ office in China will complement the firm’s existing branches in New York, Tel Aviv and Montreal.
The firm has made 11 investments so far in companies including TytoCare, Lemonaid Health and Emedgene.
OTV’s sweet spot is investing in Series A, B and C rounds, cutting checks of between $5 million and $20 million. Approximately half of the fund has already been deployed with funds reserved for follow-on investments, he said.
Meanwhile, the firm looks for a variety of investment opportunities within the sector, such as monitoring, diagnostics and patient workflow, Lahat said.
“We’ve also invested in the genomics space, though that is just starting,” he added. “We’re looking at sequencing devices and artificial intelligence, as well as therapeutics. Overall, the digital health domain is newer, and ripe for opportunities.”
OTV is in good company with venture firms dedicating new funds to digital health. In August, we reported on Vienna-based APEX Ventures’ second fund dedicated to digital health startups. We’ve also explored how telemedicine investment led the way this year, driven by the global pandemic.
Illustration: Li-Anne Dias
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