The fund aims to help UK-based health tech startups to scale up domestically and internationally with support from leading healthcare institutions.
Meridian Health Ventures (MHV), a UK-based health tech investor, said it has received over $40m (€35m) in commitments from backers, including UK and US medical institutions, for a new transatlantic fund.
The transatlantic fund aims to address the challenges faced by health tech ventures working within the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) in scaling up both domestically and globally, at a time when investment in fledgling UK healthcare firms is in short supply.
MHV recently changed its name from KHP Ventures, which started life in 2021 with support from London-based health trusts but has now acquired a wider range of UK and overseas investors.
Backers for the transatlantic fund so far include Guy’s and Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College Hospital and University College London Hospitals in the UK, as well as Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in the US. Hartford HealthCare, another US-based organisation, is due to join the fund imminently. MHV said that these investors collectively serve 8.5 million patients a year globally.
Other investors in the fund include General Catalyst, Speedinvest, The Health Foundation, Better Society Capital and independent charitable organisation Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation.
Scaling up
In partnership with its backers, the transatlantic fund aims to support startups in producing data and evidence required to allow adoption and scale up within the UK and US healthcare sectors.
“With this fund, we want to supercharge the growth of the most promising innovations so they can deliver direct benefits to the NHS’s patients and workforce, as well as the wider UK economy,” said Nadine Hachach-Haram, co-managing partner at Meridian Health Ventures.
By collaborating with US partners, the fund hopes to allow founders to scale rapidly, both domestically and internationally, “bridging the gap between UK NHS and US healthcare systems for a start”, she added.
MHV’s existing portfolio includes health tech companies including Apian, Doccla, deepc, Patchwork, Tympa Health, iFAST Diagnostics, PocDoc, Phare Health, 52 North and MediShout.
Drone pilot
One investee company, Apian and its partners are developing the use of drones to transport urgent medical supplies, such as blood samples, rapidly between hospitals. A drone service between Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals in London has been on trial since October 2024, allowing deliveries that can take more than half an hour by road to be transferred in under two minutes.
Alex Trewby, Apian’s CEO, said support from Meridian and hospital trusts had helped the concept grow from its origins within the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme.
“Meridian’s new transatlantic fund creates a win-win for patients, clinicians and health tech founders like us,” he said.
Ian Abbs, CEO of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust said the NHS, along with other healthcare systems in the developed world, was faced with the challenge of delivering high-quality care against a backdrop of rising demand, increased patient acuity and workforce and financial pressures.
“This imperative to innovate is why we decided to become a founding institution of KHP Ventures and an anchor Partner in Meridian Health Ventures’ fund. As a leading NHS organisation, we are committed to harnessing accelerations in new digital and biomedical advances, such as the innovative startups that this fund invests in, to deliver better, faster and fairer healthcare for all,” he said.
MHV also launched what it said was Europe’s first dedicated mental health tech fund in October 2024, with Wellcome Trust as anchor investor, and working in partnership with the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. The Innovations in Mental Health (IMH) Fund finances ventures tackling depression, anxiety, and psychosis-related disorders. MHV said commitments for the IMH fund and the transatlantic fund combined are around $50m.
