HOUSTON– Texas Medical Center (TMC) today announced that it has increased the size of the TMC Venture Fund to $50 million dollars, doubling down on its vision to foster and invest in life science entrepreneurship. The $50 million investment, combined with the recent launch of the TMC3 campus – the world’s largest life science campus – further solidifies Houston as a critical hub for healthcare and life science ventures.
“When we launched the TMC Venture Fund, our goal was to drive collaboration and entrepreneurship, and establish Texas as a life science hub,” said William McKeon, President and CEO of Texas Medical Center. “Our initial investment was extremely successful, and this influx of capital creates a unique opportunity for TMC to invest in companies in the earliest stages of commercialization, further bolstering Houston’s thriving life science community.”
The TMC Venture Fund launched in 2017 as a $25 million initiative to fill a much-needed gap in the Houston venture capital ecosystem. Since its inception, TMC Venture Fund has partnered with 16 startups, with a focus on digital health and medical device companies.
“Our partnership with TMC continues to help us garner important insights and foster access so we can best support health systems to deliver the experience we all want as patients,” said Adnan Iqbal, Co-Founder & CEO of Luma Health, a TMC Venture Fund portfolio company. “We’re excited to welcome more founders into the TMC family as the fund takes this next step forward.”
With this expansion, TMC Venture Fund will be able to support a wider range of companies in early rounds of investment, such as startups and entrepreneurs participating in the TMCi Accelerator programs or coming out of TMC member institutions. In addition to continuing to expand relationships with med device and digital health startups, new areas of focus will include therapeutic, expansion-stage international startups and bio-fabrication companies.
“For entrepreneurs with bold plans to improve patient outcomes and experiences, TMC is an excellent partner,” said Adam Berman, CEO of Alleviant Medical, a portfolio company that was launched out of the TMC’s Biodesign program. “TMC has created a community of startups; we are both proud to be part of that ecosystem and look forward to sharing ideas and strategies with new members of the Fund.”
“Over the past five years, the TMC Venture Fund has been privileged to partner with extraordinary entrepreneurs to help them achieve their visions,” said John (JR) Reale, Venture Lead for the TMC Venture Fund. “In addition to our founders, we’re grateful to TMC’s Board of Directors for their leadership and commitment in supporting healthcare entrepreneurship at TMC.”
