Town Hall Ventures, a firm investing in medically underserved communities, closed on its largest fund thus far, a $350 million round that has drawn new partnerships and an expanded team of executives.
Town Hall Ventures, which announced the latest fund Thursday, bills its efforts as a “healthcare innovation platform dedicated to transforming care” for underserved communities and has thus far included investments in a portfolio that includes the health plan Bright Health and providers of medical care and behavioral health such as Cityblock Health, Signify Health and VillageMD.
The investments in efforts to transform care in underserved communities come as health care providers, insurers and others work to improve health outcomes and address social determinants of health. Meanwhile, there has been expansion under the Affordable Care Act of health insurance and Medicaid coverage for the poor, in particular, but it’s not often coordinated in many communities lacking medical care providers.
“The closer you get to looking at what’s happening in underserved communities, the more opportunities for improvement there are,” Andy Slavitt, one of Town Hall’s general partners who headed the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services during the Obama administration, said in an interview.
Slavitt said many of the people who are served by companies that Town Hall invests in are going from “no access to care to all of the sudden getting care access built around” them. “When you do that, you can make a huge difference,” Slavitt said.
Since its founding in 2018, Town Hall executives say they have “invested in or partnered to build 30 companies that have grown to serve over 3 million Americans in all 50 states.” Town Hall said it has now crossed the $1 billion threshold when it comes to assets under management.
"Town Hall Ventures has demonstrated that if you build great, meaningful businesses that change people’s lives you can create significant venture capital returns,” said John Doerr, a Town Hall Ventures investor in all three funds.
The $350 million fund follows two earlier funds that raised $115 million and $270 million respectively.
“We have the know-how to make the world better for a lot of people if we make health care fit with the way they live,” Slavitt said. “Town Hall was created as a platform to help bring all of those things together for community-focused entrepreneurs with big ideas.”
Town Hall’s strategy is also drawing new talent to the team. The firm Thursday also announced the addition of several new executives, including their first new partner since 2018 with the addition of Dr. Meera Mani who is joining Town Hall from McKinsey & Co. where she served as a Senior Partner and led the firm’s Medicaid practice.
“There are few people in U.S. health care who are as knowledgeable, caring, financially sophisticated, strategic, and with deeper relationships than Meera,” said Trevor Price, a general partner at Town Hall Ventures. “Her commitment to and passion for investing in health equity will be part of the hallmark of how we are known.”