Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Healthcare Investing, AI Enablement, and Scaling Category Leaders with Saurabh Bhansali of Health Velocity Capital

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Healthcare Investing, AI Enablement, and Scaling Category Leaders with Saurabh Bhansali of Health Velocity Capital · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello, and welcome to a special combined episode
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  of the Becker's Healthcare and the Becker Private
• 0:04
  Equity and Becker Business Podcast.
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  My name is Chanel Banger, and I'm delighted
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  to speak with Sourav Bansali,
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  a partner at Health Velocity Capital, who joins
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  the podcast today to share insights into healthcare
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  investing and a bit more. Saurabh, thank you
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  so much for joining me. Thanks, Chanel. Thanks
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  for having me. Perfect. Well, to get us
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  started, can you introduce yourself and share how
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  your approach to healthcare investing has evolved over
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  the years?
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  Yeah. Absolutely.
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  So I'm one of the partners and cofounders
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  here at Health Velocity Capital.
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  I'm based out of our San Francisco office.
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  We also have a Nashville, Tennessee office.
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  We're approaching our tenth year anniversary
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  and we'll be imminently deploying our third fund
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  next year in 2026.
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  Since
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  Health Velocity Capital is founded, you know, our
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  our guiding principles have remained fairly consistent.
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  We're investing in businesses that are making the
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  future future of health care
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  more affordable,
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  sustainable, and consumer friendly.
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  Our team has a pretty unique combination
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  of
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  hundred plus years of investing and operating experience
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  having backed
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  or built many of the first movers in
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  our sector to
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  either market leadership or market formation altogether, changing
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  the way how
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  care is delivered, paid for,
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  administered.
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  We've backed
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  a number of category leaders including
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  Teladoc, IVX Health, Livongo,
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  MD Live, Change Healthcare, Ginger Headspace,
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  Enobelcare,
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  even Castlight Health.
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  And you asked about
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  our approach. So,
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  our approach,
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  we think really sets us apart.
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  First, you know, we focus on fundamentals that
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  really determine durability,
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  for businesses. You know, this means customer incentives
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  and understanding unit economics, sales velocity, and capital
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  intensity.
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  So
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  we can really understand
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  how early advantage for these businesses becomes repeatable
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  scale.
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  Second,
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  one of our unique approaches is that we
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  uniquely engage our network to produce real outcomes,
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  and that
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  is in the form of customers,
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  partnerships,
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  talent,
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  and ultimately a faster path to scale. You
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  know, our LPs
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  include many of the nation's largest and most
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  influential health care organizations,
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  plus about a 100 over a 100
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  senior health care executives,
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  both current and former, that collectively represent organizations
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  that ensure something like a 175,000,000
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  Americans operate over a thousand hospitals,
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  with national pharmacy PBM and health care IT
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  reach.
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  And from that, we've generated over 2,000,000,000
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  in
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  partnership revenue across 200 plus commercial relationships.
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  So we like to say is network is
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  common, but commercial pull through is rare and
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  we work really hard,
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  and take a lot of pride in driving
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  that commercial pull through.
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  Thank you so much. That's very impressive. And
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  now kind of thinking about
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  right now and kinda going into
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  2026,
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  what would you say
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  are the emerging trends or friction points in
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  health care,
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  that you think investors tend to overlook?
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  You know, what I've learned over the past
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  fifteen years in this sector is that
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  health care is just is just too complex
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  for the casual participant,
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  and this is an industry that doesn't really
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  do well with hype.
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  So to really making a lasting improvement with
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  their capital, investors need to understand
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  the industry over cycles
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  and really connect the dots on how
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  dollars flowing through the system
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  drive incentives
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  in those decisions and dollar flows in the
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  system
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  as well as the operational friction that really
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  slows that innovation.
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  So just going back to sort of our
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  engagement model with our network, you know, we
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  have this really consistent and constant feedback loop,
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  from those who really shape the market.
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  So in theory and in practice,
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  you know, our proximity
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  gives us a bit of an unfair advantage.
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  We can spot what's broken before the market
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  does because we hear it directly from the
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  operators that are feeling the pain. You know,
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  one of our investments
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  is a business called IVX Health,
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  which is an investment that was born from
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  our network. It was an introduce it was
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  an introduction from,
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  one of our strategic network investors and individual.
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  And
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  we've we've we made we made the investment.
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  We recruited
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  the CEO, the chairman,
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  the CFO, and a variety of other executives,
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  and
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  they have really done an a remarkable job
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  turning that into a billion dollar platform redefining
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  the infusion experience.
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  So
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  that's a little bit about our approach, some
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  of the trends that we're seeing, the friction
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  points that we encounter.
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  You know, on top of that, we're obviously
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  seeing a lot in AI,
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  and,
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  that's gonna encounter a a big opportunity and
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  a number of friction points as well.
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  Got it. Got it. And we all know
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  that health care innovation has been at a
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  rapid pace lately.
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  What would you say the most exciting
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  bit of health care or area of health
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  care innovation has been for you in the
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  past six to eighteen months? And could you
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  give us any particular companies that embody these
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  approaches?
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  Yeah. Of course.
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  So
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  today,
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  my
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  through line,
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  has really been backing companies that can participate
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  in that large dollar flow market that I
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  mentioned before
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  and those that can disproportionately
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  benefit from
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  market or regulatory challenge.
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  Just given how broken how much felt so
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  much health care is and, you know, there
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  are a number of companies that I've backed,
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  that really sit in those dollar flows. Octave
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  is participating
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  in,
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  you know,
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  in the mental health space, broadly speaking, and
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  providing high quality care to those needing it,
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  from a mental health therapy standpoint.
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  Torch Dental is effectively building the Amazon of
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  the dental industry, making it better, faster, cheaper,
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  for dentists to procure their materials
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  and consumables.
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  You know,
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  that's
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  all these companies
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  really sit in the big dollar flows and
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  win when we when health care becomes more
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  efficient. On top of that, you know, more
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  recently, I've been drawn
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  to areas like revenue cycle management, and I
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  AI enabled services, specialty pharmacy and drug management,
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  next generation health plans for small and mid
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  sized businesses,
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  because those are all
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  areas that have been
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  part of the broader health care ecosystem for
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  decades.
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  And AI enablement is really driving more efficiency,
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  operational leverage, and ultimately great sustainable businesses. You
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  know, we recently invested in a company called
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  SHERCO,
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  which is a
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  a business in the defined contribution space within
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  health care. There there's a an act passed
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  by the Trump administration called ICRA, the individual
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  coverage health reimbursement arrangement.
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  And, SHERCO is an administrator, an ICRA administrator
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  where they help
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  small to midsize
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  employers
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  offer defined contribution plans versus defined benefit. It's
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  kind of the,
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  the move historically that we've made from pensions
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  to four one case, but it's happening in
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  health care or health insurance. And when we
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  were looking at that space, nearly every carrier
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  we engage
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  had a
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  dedicated point person and emerging ICRA strategy.
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  And the folks that we talked to, the
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  consultants consistently described ICRA as a key tool
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  in their arsenal.
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  So, you know, it's just going back to
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  that flywheel with our LPs and our network,
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  where we can see opportunities and where we
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  can really help drive adoption.
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  Got it. Got it. And now you've given
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  us a lot of actionable insights for health
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  care leaders and for business leaders looking for
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  insights into health care investing.
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  I'm curious, what do you personally look for
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  in founders or teams that consistently deliver meaningful
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  impact?
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  It's a great question.
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  If I were to point to
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  one characteristic that I personally,
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  admire in founders
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  that has led to,
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  I'd say, outsized returns. It's it's this concept
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  of resourcefulness.
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  It's, you know, resourcefulness is core to both
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  who we are at Health Velocity and the
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  founders we back. The best founders turn
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  turbulence into tail end. You know, one of
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  our portfolio companies, Octave, is a great example
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  of when
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  resourcefulness
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  meets the right founder. You know, we invested
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  pre COVID when you know, when the world
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  changed, the CEO sort of reimagined
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  the business
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  Basically overnight, pivoted from virtual clinics to, I
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  I should say, physical clinics to a virtual
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  first model
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  integrating with both payers and EMRs
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  and even exploring how AI can power more
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  efficient navigation, and the business
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  has really been accelerated as a result of
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  that resourcefulness from the founder.
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  Absolutely.
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  Well, sir, Rob, I wanna thank you for
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  your time today. But before I let you
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  go, is there anything else that listeners should
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  know?
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  If you are a,
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  a growth stage
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  resourceful founder, you know who to reach out
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  to.
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  Perfect. Well, sir, I wanna thank you once
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  again for your time today and for sharing
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  your insights on the Becker's health care and
• 9:19
  the Becker private equity and business podcast. Thank
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  you so much.
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  Wonderful.
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  Thanks, Chanel.