BENGALURU: W Health Ventures, founded by serial technology entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist Sunil Wadhwani, has launched its second fund targeting $70 million (RS 600 crore) with a hard cap of $100 million (Rs 850 crore). The healthcare-focused venture capital firm, which operates in Boston and India, expects to announce the fund’s first close later this quarter.Fund II will double down on W Health’s “company creation” approach, which is building and scaling healthcare businesses from the ground up while backing existing platforms. The model, which the firm says helped its first fund’s portfolio reach over 25 million patients globally, will now be expanded with plans to build eight to ten companies over the next four years.“We’re in an evergreen sector that will continue to grow at a reasonable pace for the next 20 years,” Dr. Pankaj Jethwani, managing partner at W Health Ventures, told TOI. “Healthcare innovation in India remains 10-15 years behind global benchmarks. That gap is a generational opportunity.”The firm has already warehoused two investments for Fund II. These include Everhope Oncology, a $10 million joint venture with Narayana Health aimed at reimagining cancer care in India by introducing advanced diagnostics, breakthrough therapies and decentralised treatment centres, and a US-based managed services platform for psychiatric care that operates in stealth.W Health will also strengthen its leadership with four new senior operating partners who will provide hands-on expertise in areas such as offline healthcare operations, AI-enabled services and US go-to-market.Jethwani said the firm’s strategy is built on two themes: single-speciality care delivery platforms in India and cross-border, AI-enabled B2B healthcare services. “Most of healthcare spend in India still happens offline,” he told TOI. “We are focused on building companies that meet patients where they are while also leveraging India’s clinical and engineering talent to power healthcare services for global markets.”W Health launched its first fund in 2021, deploying about $43 million across 12 companies, including Mylo, BeatO, Wysa, Reveal HealthTech and Nivaan Care.Jethwani added that healthcare has been among the strongest-performing investment categories in India. “We’re not a healthtech fund, we’re a healthcare fund. We are here to build companies that can truly change the standard of care for millions of patients.”
