All Access

Health Tech Deals

Health Tech Deals Alerts

Alert

Standard

Health Tech Deals Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

mustard

BFD Expert Voices - Health Tech Deals

BFD Expert Voices

topics

politics-policy

epstein-files

donald-trump

2026-midterm-elections

immigration

behind-the-curtain

race-and-equity

technology

privacy-tech-regulation

automation-and-ai

tiktok-news

big-tech

social-media

cybersecurity

economy

social-security

inflation

tariffs

federal-reserve

jobs

transportation

business

stock-market-news

retail-news

crypto

media

elon-musk

dealmaking

health

rfk-jr

drug-prices

axios-explains-abortion

public-health

world

israel

axios-explains-ukraine

iran

russia

china

energy-climate

nuclear-energy

climate-energy-policy

climate-change

extreme-weather

alternative-energy

electric-vehicles

science

emerging-tech

biomedicine

newsletters

pittsburgh

atlanta

san-diego

charlotte

boulder

washington-dc

kansas-city

dallas

denver

detroit

des-moines

austin

boston

chicago

cleveland

columbus

houston

indianapolis

miami

nashville

new-orleans

nw-arkansas

philadelphia

phoenix

portland

richmond

salt-lake-city

san-antonio

san-francisco

seattle

tampa-bay

twin-cities

raleigh

huntsville

colorado-springs

axios-local

axios-pro

axios-live

the-axios-show

When Andy Slavitt launched Town Hall Ventures four years ago to transform care delivery in underserved communities, he didn't know if such companies were out there — or if the capital would follow. Now he does, Sarah writes.

Why it matters: Town Hall Ventures just raked in $350 million for its third vehicle, validating what Slavitt believes is growing investor recognition of the needs of marginalized populations — whether that's maternal health in the Medicaid community or "deaths of despair" from the lack of mental health access.   

What he's saying: "People no longer think we are nuts," after seeing the successes of locally driven Town Hall portfolio companies that have scaled, like Cityblock Health, Equality Health and Landmark Health, Slavitt tells Axios. 

That success has prompted "mainstream" investment around health equity, he says, yielding a number of emerging competitors to Town Hall portfolio companies.

"When they started they were kind of the only game in town," Slavitt says. "In my mind, that is the beginning of a shift of progress in the industry."

Between the lines: "Our goal isn’t just to put our 350 million dollars [to work]," Slavitt says. "Our goal is to attract billions and billions of dollars by nature of these companies." 

Zoom in: Slavitt, who was the acting administrator of CMS under President Obama and spent a decade at Optum, says health care incumbents "like to create new creative competitive things and then the innovation doesn't travel well." 

To facilitate more rapid transformation, innovation needs to spread — and that means both mainstream health care players and entrepreneurial companies like those in Town Hall's portfolio need to be more accommodative to partner, he adds.

"If [the innovation] it's owned outside of their four walls, it actually works," he says. "I use my history in this to push them [incumbents]."

Context: With a fresh pool of funds available for investment, Town Hall Ventures is focused on issues in need of major progress, like...  

Teen mental health, rural health, maternal health and senior care.

Slavitt's big picture: "The closer you get to these communities, the more you see the desperate need for problems to be solved."

Details: Town Hall Ventures' new $350 million fund is its largest to date, with Fund I and Fund II collecting $115 million and $270 million, respectively. 

The firm now has over $1 billion in assets under management, and Fund 2 has finished making new investments but has "significant" reserves to support existing investments. 

The larger pool of capital gives it more capability to write follow-on checks, and Slavitt expects to inject as much as $30 million to $35 million into its companies over their life span, he says. 

The firm simultaneously named Meera Mani partner, from McKinsey & Co, where she built the firm's Medicaid practice.

Town Hall Ventures named Matt Tesarfreund vice president; David Ohta associate; and Christine Gosioco associate. Hui Cheng and Robby Fuentes were promoted to vice president.

1 big thing: Town Hall Ventures continues health equity push 

Photo illustration of Town Hall Ventures' general partner Andy Slavitt with the company's logo and red crosses

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo courtesy Town Hall Ventures

Francisco Partners agreed to acquire Bswift, a provider of benefits technology and services, from CVS Health, Sarah writes. 

Why it's the BFD: Bswift provides necessary technology for employee benefits shopping, enrollment and administration, but growth under CVS has arguably been limited. Francisco Partners can give Bswift the shot in the arm needed to invigorate business potential as an independent company.

What they're saying: Accelerated by COVID and the proliferation of employer-facing startups, "the definition of employer benefits is greatly expanding" beyond just insurance — and Bswift is strongly positioned to leverage that trend, Francisco Partners' partner Justin Chen says. 

Bswift provides a critical piece of the equation and has a sticky customer base through which it can be a holistic platform that sells additional products and technology.

Top line has more than tripled under CVS, but Chen sees an opportunity to accelerate that growth, including via acquisitions of companies that look similar to Bswift or those that are a natural product extension.

Yes, and: Now that Bswift is no longer under the CVS/Aetna umbrella, the business can benefit by working with more carriers and plans.  

State of play: Francisco Partners is a seasoned corporate carve-0ut investor, executing more than 40 such transactions of this vein. That includes another high-profile deal earlier this year: 

The acquisition of a collection of data and analytics assets from IBM's Watson Health arm, now called Merative.

For Chen, it's his third in the last few years, his first being the 2019 carve-out of Qualcomm Life from Qualcomm. 

Details: Financial terms weren't disclosed, but Bswift is projecting about $230 million and $50 million of 2022 revenue and EBITDA, respectively, sources told Sarah in August.

Bswift will continue to partner with CVS and Aetna to provide benefits technology to its employees and clients.

Bswift serves 65,000 employer groups, boasting that it drives 25% cheaper premiums among users and 98% client retention.

Context: As evidenced by CVS' $8 billion bet on Signify Health, the industry giant is eager to move closer to the patient and care delivery — with its ambitions spanning home health, primary care and physician enablement. 

Bswift — like PayFlex, CVS' recently sold HSA business — is a non-core asset that doesn't advance the company in that direction.

Catch up fast: CVS this summer kicked off a divestiture process for Bswift via Goldman Sachs, Axios wrote, with the process originally targeting a broad range of potential strategic and private equity buyers. 

Aetna in late 2014 bought Bswift from Boston-based PE firm Great Hill Partners for approximately $400 million. (CVS then bought Aetna in late 2018.)

2. The BFD: Francisco Partners buys CVS' Bswift

Illustration of a cash register with glowing red health pluses displayed on the screen. 

Delphinus Medical Technologies, a Novi, Mich.-based developer of ultrasound breast cancer screening technology, raised $30m in Series D funding from Arboretum Ventures, Beringea and North Coast Technology Investors. https://delphinusmt.com

The Vistria Group and Century Equity Partners invested in Flores & Associates, a Charlotte, N.C.-based provider of employer-facing benefit technology and administrative services. 

Olympus Partners acquired EyeSouth Partners, an eye care management services organization, from Shore Capital Partners, confirming Axios' earlier report that cited a nearly $1B valuation.  

VSP Vision, a not-for-profit vision benefits company, acquired Professional Eye Care Associates of America, a network of independent eye care professionals, from Nautic Partners.  http://pecaamax.com/

Levine Leichtman Capital-backed medical communications firm Prime Global Medical Communications, of London, acquired earthware, a digital health care agency. https://www.earthware.co.uk/

Knox Lane-backed medical communications company Fingerpaint Group acquired Parsons Medical Communications, an eye care-specific scientific and commercialization agency. https://parsons-medcomm.com/ 

Halma, a group of life-saving technology companies, acquired IZI Medical, an Owings Mills, Maryland-based interventional radiology medical device company, from Shore Capital Partners. https://izimed.com/

Shore Capital Partners sold IZI Medical Products, an Owings Mills, Md.-based maker of interventional radiology medical devices, to Halma (LSE: HLMA). www.izimed.com

3. Deals o' the day

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG) shareholders confirmed Roy Jakobs as the company's next CEO, effective Oct. 15. Jakobs' appointment was announced in August.

Drive Capital named former Olive AI talent acquisition manager Mark Butler its talent acquisition manager.

Lyra Health promoted former SVP of partnerships Sean McBride to chief revenue officer.

4. It's Personnel

🍂 It's officially October, the month of the best holiday, Halloween, and the best flavor, pumpkin spice. Go ahead, disagree.

👀 Situational awareness: Several ex-employees of Olive, which recently axed its CFO and CPO, are hinting at a newco launch this week on LinkedIn.

🚗 Sarah is picking up a new car this afternoon after nearly decade without wheels in NYC, and she's stoked. 

❤️ Thanks for reading, and extra thanks to newsletter editor Claire Rychlewski and copy editor Mickey Meece. Please ask your friends and colleagues to sign up.

October 03, 2022

1 big thing: Town Hall Ventures continues health equity push