July 2023 | Community Newsletter
Hello,
Welcome back to the Houghton Street Ventures Community newsletter, our monthly update on what’s happening within the LSE startup and venture ecosystem. We have some exciting events over the coming month:
Term Sheets 101 - a masterclass on structuring your funding round - book a ticket here
Today, we announce our latest investment from the fund in Venteur. We invested in Venteur, founded by LSE alumni Stacy Edgar and Tim Edgar, as part of their seed round in July 2023 alongside leading US healthcare investors, GSR Ventures. See the full blog below.
If you’re interested in learning more about Houghton Street Ventures, we’d love to hear from you. Or if you have ideas about future content or collaborations, just hit reply!
Why we invested in Venteur…
In July 2023, Houghton Street Ventures marked its latest investment by participating in Venteur’s seed round. We join lead investors, GSR Ventures, plus Headwater Ventures, Revelry Ventures and Plug and Play, in backing Stacy Edgar and Tim Edgar and their vision for the future of healthcare in the United States.
Despite being one of the leading economies in the world, the US healthcare system is characterised by having significant inequities, resulting in hundreds of millions of people having poor access to basic healthcare. Market-oriented reforms such as preferred provider organisations (PPOs) have launched in recent years, however, these policies limit the choice of providers, often with no coverage outside of the network.
Introducing, the individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement (ICHRA). The ICHRA enables employers to give their employees a tax-free monthly allowance which can be used to reimburse individual and family health insurance premiums and other qualified medical expenses. By disaggregating healthcare within a company, employees can choose the individual health insurance plan that best meets their needs, and companies can realise substantial savings on their health benefits package.
Health insurance is undergoing its ‘401K moment’ in the United States. As employees use Vanguard to manage their money they will use Venteur to manage their health. Venteur is ushering in a new era of healthcare choice in the United States.
Community News & Updates
Houghton Street Ventures
We launched Evaiuate, a new tool for founders to help with crafting the perfect pitch deck. Evaiuate gives teams insight into how investors will judge their business model and provides detailed, contextual feedback and key areas to improve. We’ve had hundreds of founders use the tool so far and would love your feedback. If you’d like to learn more about EvAIuate please do reach out!
Big Deals
Likeminded - founded by Max Heberger - raised a $6m Seed round from Heartcore Capital
Kaso - founded by Ahmed Soliman - raised a €10.5m Seed round from B&Y Venture Partners
A-Alpha Bio - founded by David Younger - raised a $22m Series A led by Perceptive Ventures
Clair - founded by Erich Nussbaumer - raised a $25m Series A led by Thrive Capital
Tractable - founded by Alex Dalyac - raised a $65m Series E led by Softbank
In the News
Capchase, leading revenue-based financing provider in New York, surpasses $100m in funding for female and underrepresented minority-founded businesses
Alluvial, featured in Fortune Crypto announcing their $12m Series A funding round led by Ethereal Ventures
Mattilda featured in TechCrunch with the latest in how their revolutionising payments within LATAM schools
Bloom Money made it onto TechCrunch with their microfinance credit products for ethnic communities
Meet the team
The team will be in:
Zurich: 13th to 14th September - Hannah keynote speaker at the European Venture Fair
New York: 16th to 24th September - Hannah delivering ESG training and meeting LSE founders & investors
Paris: 2nd to 3rd October - Hannah presenting at the Women in Venture: European summit
If our paths cross or if you’re swinging by London, come visit us in the LSE library - we’d love to catch up, let us know!
Best,
Hannah, Adam, and David