Esplanade HealthTech Ventures Closes Maiden Fund, at Over C$21M

Esplanade Ventures

Esplanade HealthTech Ventures, a Montreal, Canada-based digital health venture capital firm, closed its inaugural venture fund, Esplanade HealthTech Ventures I, at more than C$21M.

Founded and seeded in February 2020 by Dr. Sheldon Elman, co-founder of Persistence Capital Partners, serial entrepreneur, and experienced investor in the healthcare space, Esplanade invests globally and actively partners with early-stage and high growth digital health companies shaping the future of healthcare delivery offering capital as well as strategic advisory and distribution support.

The firm focuses on Seed to Series A investments in companies located in the US, Canada, Europe and Israel that serve the global healthcare market. To date, Fund I has made investments in 13 companies – among them binah.ai, BrainBox AI, Cleerly and Lumen, representing a diverse global portfolio.

In just over a year since its first close, Esplanade has seen several of its portfolio companies’ valuations increase to over $100M with strong regulatory traction including several breakthrough designations and approvals from the FDA.

The firm’s leadership team also includes Josh Blair, General Partner, and CEO of the Canadian/Israeli tech startup, Impro.ai, and Chairman of TELUS International.  Jeffrey Kadanoff, Managing Director and Ella Seitz, Partner bring years of experience from Knight Therapeutics Inc., Bain & Company, McKesson Corporation and Kearney.

Based in Montreal, with offices in Toronto, the firm expects its next fund, Fund II, to have its first close later this year.

FinSMEs

21/06/2021