Octopus Ventures assembles new team, announces €112M fund to expand health tech offering

The London-based VC firm Octopus Ventures is renowned for launching notable funds over the years. Back in 2019, the company launched a €96.3M growth fund and now, it Intends to raise €112M to invest in early-stage health tech, with Octopus Group as a cornerstone investor. The firm is also bringing in new team members from TenX Health to leverage their experience and network in the digital healthcare space.

Raising €112M to invest in early-stage health tech companies

Octopus Ventures is one of the most active VCs in Europe, and the company looks to launch a new €112M institutional global fund to take advantage of the current opportunity presented by the health tech market. Joe Stringer, Dr Pooja Sikka and Shamik Parekh from TenX Health join Octopus Ventures to add experience and bring in their broad network of connections from the digital healthcare space. Stringer and Sikka were formerly founding members of EY Ventures, leading the health and social care portfolio.

The new team will be tasked with managing the proposed fund, which is currently targeting €112M to invest in early-stage health tech businesses. The funding is aimed to accelerate healthcare technology into global health systems and directly to consumers that require better healthcare access. The new fund will be geared towards series A funding, reserving capital to follow on throughout the growth rounds with Octopus Group being the cornerstone investor.

Alliott Cole, Co-CEO of Octopus Ventures, says, “Covid-19 has doubled the pace of growth in healthcare technology. Joe, Pooja and Shamik’s arrival and the launch of the fund puts us in an even stronger position to take advantage of the investment opportunities that are emerging from the pandemic as the digital healthcare revolution continues. We are delighted to cornerstone this new fund and look forward to providing investors with an opportunity to access this global growth market.”

New co-CFO joins the company

The news about the new fund creation comes soon after Emma Davies joined Octopus Ventures as Co-CEO earlier in January 2021. Davies brings over 20 years of institutional fund management expertise with her. In addition, Octopus announced scaling up its portfolio team by 45% with nine new hires back in October last year and it also launched a new specialist consumer team.