American Hospital Association's latest investments emphasize health equity

The American Hospital Association is taking a direct approach to facilitating health equity by providing capital and support to investment outfits emphasizing personalized healthcare startups led by women and people from racial and ethnic minority communities.

The AHA has invested in SteelSky Ventures, a women-led fund with a portfolio focused on maternal health, telehealth and in-home care services and artificial intelligence tools for managing chronic health conditions, the trade group announced Tuesday.

This marks the organization's second such investment in a planned series of four, said Doug Shaw, the AHA's senior vice president for business development. In January, the association joined a group of healthcare organizations and financial institutions that invested $55 million in Jumpstart Nova, a fund led by Marcus Whitney that plans to exclusively support health technology firms with Black founders. AHA has not disclosed the value of its investments.

The association started dabbling in investment with the launch of its first fund in 2019, which it created in partnership with Concord Health Partners. The $50 million pool targeted startups that offered services to hospitals in general. With the latest investments, the AHA is narrowing its focus to personalized health solutions that hospitals can deploy to address health disparities.

The AHA is also trying to increase the capital allocated to funds and businesses led by people from historically marginalized populations. Last year, funding for Black-owned health tech companies made up only 1% of U.S. venture capital, according to data collected by Crunchbase. Investments catered to women's health represented 7% of health tech funding in 2021, according to seed fund Rock Health.

To mitigate this dearth of funding, the AHA decided to serve as a strategic investor to funds, rather than launch its own, Shaw said.

"Our investments are a signal to our commitment to try to course-correct and end some of these injustices, and really provide opportunities for these healthcare innovators to create solutions and services that our members are seeking," said Joy Lewis, the AHA's senior vice president for health equity strategies.

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Having the largest U.S. hospital trade association on board is advantageous because the AHA brings a network of nearly 5,000 member-hospitals as potential clients, SteelSky Ventures founding and general partner Maria Velissaris said.

SteelSky operates a portfolio with nearly $72 million in assets, according to managing partner Buffy Alegria. In addition to women's health services, the firm also has investments in companies developing ancillary services such as an online licensure platform designed to increase the number of female therapists, a drone delivery service for prescription medicines and a period apparel company.

"Hospitals like us because we have a list toward health equity. While they may have some solutions now, they might not be inclusive," Velissaris said. "We're also finding new companies, especially in women's health, that they don't already have. We're able to show them [these services and products] and get that to the hospitals as quickly as possible."