Health Velocity Capital Research
Investment Thesis
Health Velocity Capital is a healthcare-exclusive venture and growth equity firm founded in 2016 by Marty Felsenthal, Bruce Crosby, and Saurabh Bhansali. The firm's stated mission is to support innovative healthcare software and services businesses that make the U.S. healthcare system more affordable, sustainable, and consumer-friendly. Its defining structural feature is a limited partner base built almost entirely from the healthcare industry itself: major health plans, health systems, and health technology companies serve as LPs, collectively representing organizations that provide health insurance to over 175 million Americans and operate more than 600 hospitals. This gives portfolio companies direct access to enterprise buyers, pilot partners, and distribution channels that a generalist fund cannot offer.
Sector Focus
Health Velocity invests exclusively within healthcare, spanning:
- Digital health and virtual care
- Health IT and provider workflow software
- Healthcare services (value-based care, specialty care delivery)
- Insurtech / health plan technology (e.g., Zipari, SureCo)
- Healthcare fintech and revenue cycle management (e.g., Procode)
- AI-enabled healthcare operations (front-office automation, medical billing, marketing/data infrastructure)
Stage Focus
Sources describe the firm's range as Series A through Series C/D growth equity, with the heaviest concentration in Series A and Series B. The firm looks for companies with product-market fit that need strategic capital and operational expertise (including LP network access) to scale.
Check Size
Reported check sizes range from roughly $3M to $50M depending on stage, with typical rounds in the $10M-$20M range at Series A/B.
Lead Tendency
Health Velocity leads or co-leads the large majority of its disclosed rounds (e.g., led Third Way Health's $15M Series A and Procode's $10M Series A outright; co-led Ours Privacy's $15M Series A with Lightbank and Vanna Health's $17M Series B with AlleyCorp). Classified as "both" (leads and co-leads) rather than purely follow-on.
Recent Activity
The firm has been actively deploying through 2026:
- August 2026: Co-led Ours Privacy's $15M Series A (HIPAA-compliant customer data platform for healthcare marketers), alongside Lightbank, Rock Health, and others.
- July 2026: Led Procode's $10M Series A (AI-powered medical billing / RCM for surgical specialties).
- June 2026: Co-led Vanna Health's $17M Series B (serious mental illness care), alongside AlleyCorp.
- February 2026: Led Third Way Health's oversubscribed $15M Series A (AI-powered healthcare front-office operations platform "Ascend").
The firm currently manages at least three funds: Fund I ($185M, oversubscribed first fund), Fund II ($300M, closed December 2021, also oversubscribed), and Fund III ($300M, reported as open/actively investing per PitchBook). Combined reported AUM across the first two funds alone is approximately $485M.
Portfolio Highlights
Notable current and historical portfolio companies include Zocdoc, Omada Health, Wellframe, HealthJoy, Zipari, IVX Health, SureCo, Lemonaid Health, US Renal Care, OnShift, Contessa Health, MDLive, Spero Health, ShiftKey, Ours Privacy, Third Way Health, Vanna Health, and Procode. The firm counts two unicorns (ShiftKey, Ginger), one IPO (Teladoc Health), and roughly 21 acquisitions in its portfolio history, including headline exits: Livongo Health (acquired by Teladoc Health, ~$18.5B, 2020) and Change Healthcare (acquired by UnitedHealth Group/Optum, ~$13B).
Team
- Marty Felsenthal — Co-Founder, Managing Partner. Previously a partner at HLM Venture Partners.
- Bruce Crosby — Co-Founder, Managing Partner.
- Saurabh Bhansali — Co-Founder, Managing Partner. Prior operating experience at Humana and prior venture investing background; also a former colleague of Felsenthal's at HLM Venture Partners.
- Kristin Torres Mowat — Partner, Strategic Networks; focuses on building the firm's network of health system and health plan LPs and partners.
- Grant Blevins — Principal.
- Dena Bravata — Partner.
- Brad Fluegel — Partner.
- Doug Ghertner — Partner.
- Mark Smith — Partner.
- Kenneth G. Goodhue — CFO.
Decision Process
Multi-partner partnership model (three co-founding Managing Partners plus additional Partners and a Principal), consistent with a "partnership" decision process rather than a solo GP.
Founder Preferences
The firm gravitates toward founders — often with direct healthcare operating experience (payer, provider, or health-system backgrounds) — building pragmatic, scalable models that address healthcare's structural cost and complexity problems, frequently with a regulatory or reimbursement dimension (e.g., HIPAA-native infrastructure, value-based specialty care, AI-driven revenue cycle management).
Geographic Focus
Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with a second office in Brentwood, TN (Nashville metro) — reflecting Nashville's status as a healthcare-industry hub. Portfolio companies are overwhelmingly US-based.