Australia’s Heal Partners closes debut fund on $137m
Australia’s Heal Partners, a health, education, and lifestyle-focused venture capital firm, has closed its first fund on AUD 200m (USD 137m). The target was AUD 100m.
The vehicle launched in August 2020 and was said to have closed on AUD 140m last April before an apparent decision to extend. More than AUD 170m has been deployed to date. The remaining AUD 30m will be reserved for follow-on investments.
Fund II was launched in April with an anchor LP commitment from US-based Elliott Management. The plan is to move quickly to exploit a rebasing of start-up valuations.
Headquartered in Sydney, Heal describes itself as an accelerator and global growth investor. It backs businesses that tap into growing demand for quality education and healthcare, as well as technological disruption in emerging middle-class and rapidly ageing populations.
The firm is led by five partners: Martin Dalgleish, a non-executive director at KPMG Australia, who has about 30 years of operating and board experience in tech and consumer companies; Martin Robinson, formerly the executive chairman of Hoan My Medical, Vietnam’s largest private hospital; and Peter Chapman, Mark Evans, and Chris Chambers, who are founders, operators, and investors in the health and education sectors.
Standout investees include US tattoo removal specialist Removery, which received commitments of USD 20m from Fund I and USD 30m from Fund II. The capital will support an expansion of the company’s studio footprint from 125 locations currently to more than 400 across the US, Canada, and Australia.
Heal has also backed Indonesia-based digital healthcare platform Halodoc and Singapore’s Us2.ai, which automates heart scans. Halodoc has raised more than USD 250m in venture funding. Robinson was an early investor in the company, while its co-founder and CEO, Jonathan Sudharta, is a member of Heal’s nine-strong advisory committee.
Australian investments include childcare and kindergarten provider Edge Early Learning Centres, education payments management service Edstart, and T-Shirt Ventures, which offers people with disabilities a platform that facilitates access to national insurance services.
Heal appears set to intensify its focus on Southeast Asia with the addition of Jeremy Lim to its advisory board. Lim is director of global health at the National University of Singapore’s School of Public Health and co-founder of Amili, a biotech start-up that received a USD 10.5m round led by Vulcan Capital last June.
“Dr Jeremy Lim is one of the most highly respected figures in healthcare in Southeast Asia,” Robinson added. “His expertise will further strengthen the team of heavyweights we have assembled over the past two years. With Jeremy’s leadership and network, I expect Heal to make further forays in the dynamic healthcare sector in the region.”
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