W Health Ventures launches $70 million Fund II to support healthcare startups

W Health Ventures, the Boston and India-based venture capital firm focused on healthcare innovation, has launched its second fund with a target corpus of $70 million (Rs 609 crore).

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Founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneur and philanthropist Sunil Wadhwani, W Health Ventures backs early-stage startups in the healthcare and healthtech sectors across India and the United States. With Fund II, the firm intends to deepen its commitment to building businesses from scratch, moving beyond traditional investing.

“We’re in an evergreen sector that will continue to grow at a reasonable pace for the next 20 years,” said Dr. Pankaj Jethwani, managing partner at W Health Ventures. “Healthcare innovation in India remains 10–15 years behind global benchmarks. That gap is a generational opportunity.”

The firm is targeting the first close of Fund II in the next couple of months and plans to support eight to ten early-stage startups over the next four years.

As part of its company creation strategy, W Health offers hands-on support in research and development, minimum viable product (MVP) development, go-to-market strategy, and clinical partnerships. The firm’s thesis builds on leveraging India’s engineering and clinical talent to power global healthcare delivery.

The second fund will place special emphasis on segments such as oncology, psychiatry, geriatric care, longevity, and preventive health, domains where the firm sees significant patient pain points and white spaces for innovation.

The fund has already made two investments. The first is Everhope Oncology, a platform jointly incubated with Narayana Health, to standardize and improve cancer care delivery across India. The platform is building solutions in chemotherapy, surgical oncology, diagnostics, and ongoing supportive care. The two partners have jointly invested around $10 million.

The second is a psychiatry-focused startup operating in stealth mode. Though its name remains undisclosed, the startup is structured as a cross-border, US-India managed services platform that supports psychiatry clinics in the United States with practice management, outcome tracking, and revenue optimization.

W Health launched its maiden fund in 2021 and deployed about $43 million across 12 companies, including Wysa (mental health), BeatO (chronic disease management), Mylo (parenting), and Nivaan (elder care). The firm claims its portfolio companies have collectively served more than 25 million patients globally.

While the average cheque size in Fund I ranged from $1 million to $5 million, Fund II will lean towards larger bets and deeper involvement in operations. The firm will also expand its team with four new senior operating partners who bring experience in offline care delivery, AI-enabled services, and US GTM strategy.

“We’re not a healthtech fund, we’re a healthcare fund,” said Jethwani. “We are here to build companies that can truly change the standard of care for millions of patients.”