Catalyst Health Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Catalyst Health Ventures (CHV) is a Boston-based, early-stage venture capital firm investing exclusively in transformative MedTech companies addressing large, unmet global healthcare needs. The firm's stated thesis is to back "innovative early stage therapeutic devices, diagnostics and digital health solutions that significantly improve outcomes for patients, providers and payers," with the explicit goal of helping portfolio companies become the new standard of care in their category. CHV frequently acts as the first institutional investor in a company and takes an active, hands-on partnership approach, providing clinical, regulatory, and commercialization guidance rather than purely passive capital. Both co-founders regularly sit on the boards of portfolio companies (Joshua Phillips chairs Epitel's board; Darshana Zaveri sits on PanTher Therapeutics' and AtaCor Medical's boards), consistent with a high-involvement, operator-style model.
Sector Focus
CHV concentrates on healthcare and life sciences technology, with particular emphasis on:
- Therapeutic medical devices
- Diagnostics
- Drug delivery technologies
- Digital health platforms
Clinical areas of focus called out across sources include oncology, cardiovascular disease, obesity, women's health, and neurology, spanning devices, diagnostics, and connected/digital-health tools designed to reduce treatment cost and improve patient outcomes.
Stage Focus
CHV invests from Seed through Series B, with the heaviest concentration at Seed and Series A. Multiple sources describe the firm as often the first institutional check into a company, then following on through later rounds (Series A, Series B) as the company matures.
Check Size
Reported typical investment size is $1M-$5M per round, with a historical average around $3M and a ceiling near $5M for a single check. Recent rounds bear this out: CHV co-led Epitel's $26M Series B (2026) alongside Genoa Ventures, and led PanTher Therapeutics' oversubscribed $5.4M Series A (2021) and a subsequent ~$7M financing (2025).
Lead Tendency
CHV both leads and co-invests depending on the round. It led PanTher Therapeutics' Series A and a subsequent PanTher financing, and led Esperto Medical's Series A, but co-led Epitel's Series B alongside Genoa Ventures and appears as a co-investor in AtaCor Medical's most recent financing round.
Recent Activity
CHV has been active through 2025 and into 2026:
- July 2026: Co-led Epitel's $26M Series B for its REMI Remote EEG Monitoring System, with Joshua Phillips chairing Epitel's board.
- June 2026: Participated in a VC round for Rejoni.
- October 2025: Co-invested in an AtaCor Medical financing.
- April 2025: Led a ~$7M financing round (Series B) for PanTher Therapeutics.
- January 2025: Invested in Esperto Medical's Series A.
This cadence indicates the fund is actively deploying capital.
Portfolio Highlights
CHV's portfolio spans roughly 15-17 active and historical MedTech companies, including Epitel (wireless EEG monitoring), PanTher Therapeutics (localized pancreatic cancer treatment), Aria CV (pulmonary hypertension implant), AtaCor Medical (cardiac pacing), Brixton Biosciences (pain management), Venova Medical (vascular access for hemodialysis), Avive Solutions (automated external defibrillators), Conformal Medical, Instylla, Saphena Medical, and Cruzar Medsystems.
Notable exits include Sera Prognostics, which completed its Nasdaq IPO (ticker: SERA) in July 2021 after pricing at $16/share; Augmenix, acquired by Boston Scientific in a deal announced September 2018 (up to $600M total consideration); Hansen Medical, acquired by Auris Surgical Robotics; and Maxwell Health (digital health benefits platform), acquired by Sun Life Financial.
Team
- Joshua Phillips, Founder & Managing Partner — Chairman of the board at Epitel; co-founder of CHV.
- Darshana Zaveri, Founder & Managing Partner — Serves on the boards of PanTher Therapeutics and AtaCor Medical; co-founder of CHV.
Third-party aggregators (Tracxn, Waveup) describe the team as roughly 2-3 partners plus a venture partner, consistent with a small, high-touch investing team rather than a large multi-partner platform.
Decision Process
Given the small partner group (two managing partners plus a venture partner) and the pattern of both named partners taking board seats on invested companies, decisions appear to run through a tight partnership rather than a large investment committee.
Founder Preferences
CHV backs founding teams building devices, diagnostics, and digital-health tools targeting well-defined, high-burden clinical problems (oncology, cardiovascular, women's health, neurology) where a clear regulatory and reimbursement pathway exists. The firm's hands-on board involvement suggests a preference for founders open to close operating partnership through clinical trials, FDA clearance, and commercialization.
Geographic Focus
CHV is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts (129 South Street, 4th Floor) and invests primarily in US-based MedTech companies, with some sources noting a broader US/Canada investment geography.
Sources
Direct access to the firm's own website (chv.vc) returned an HTTP 403 during this research pass, and the domain provided in the original request (chvpartners.com) resolves to a parked GoDaddy for-sale page rather than the firm's actual site. This document was compiled from third-party aggregators (Waveup, Tracxn, Caplight, MTEC, parsers.vc, LinkedIn) and primary press sources (BusinessWire, PR Newswire, Utah Business, GlobeNewswire, Nasdaq) for funding and exit events. Given the conflicting founding-year data across sources (1998, 2000, 2008), founding year was not asserted as fact.