Baleon Capital launches early-stage fund to back startups tackling underlying challenges within healthcare

Baleon Capital, a new venture capital firm, announced the close of its first fund, which has invested in pre-Series A and Series A companies that are driving innovation in healthcare and transforming medical care in America.

Baleon Capital's decision to focus on healthcare is based on the principal need to reform the industry through the application of modern technology. By identifying businesses that are building the new digital infrastructure of this industry, Baleon will deploy capital to reduce healthcare costs, improve access and solve inefficiencies that are hindering patient care.

Jon Kaiden, Founder and Managing Partner, Baleon Capital: "The healthcare industry is notorious for being slow adopters of technology, a fundamental need in serving and reaching patients. The urgency around digital adoption was highlighted by the past year's events, with one silver lining of the pandemic being the proliferation of telehealth services. Baleon will build on this momentum, investing in the future of healthcare by bringing together capital to tackle the industry's largest issues, from the way we pay for healthcare in this country to the technology gap in patient care."

The team at Baleon Capital brings a successful record in investing in early-stage companies, with founder Jon Kaiden holding a two-decade track record of providing key strategic advice and guiding dozens of portfolio companies to a successful exit. Throughout his career, Jon has achieved an IRR that puts him in the top 95% of all early-stage funds. Building on this performance, Baleon's first fund has invested in three promising companies:

• Mantra Health, a digital mental health clinic on a mission to improve access to evidence-based mental healthcare for students in higher education.
• LifeLink connects all the disparate points of patient communication within a healthcare organization and automates a variety of patient/provider communication workflows with ease using AI chatbots.
• ClearStep, an AI care navigation platform that matches patients to the right level of care based on their symptoms, insurance, and location, ultimately navigating them to the right provider at the right time.

In addition to healthcare, the firm has identified opportunities in vertical SaaS. Recent market conditions have accelerated the transformation of several industries, including finance and real estate, and have highlighted the promise for long-term growth.

www.baleoncapital.com