WELL Health Technologies Corp. announced the formation of WELL Ventures, a corporate venture arm with a mandate to invest in businesses focused on advancing digital health initiatives. 

WELL Health’s primary business is the consolidation and modernization of clinical and digital assets within the healthcare sector. In that vein, the company has made 35 acquisitions to date. To support WELL’s growth plans, WELL Ventures’ mandate is to nurture and build strategic alliances with innovative digital health companies, said WELL CEO Hamed Shahbazi. “Creating value through investing is one of the centrepieces in terms of the growth strategy of the company,” he told Vancouver Tech Journal.

Although WELL Ventures was announced this week, the company has been making investments for over two years, the first being a strategic investment in Circle Medical. In connection with the launch of WELL Ventures, the firm also announced this week a $250,000 investment in Bright, a B2B technology service provider that specializes in delivering corporate virtual wellness programs.

WELL Ventures has made additional early-stage investments in companies including INSIG, Phelix.ai, Pillway and Twig Fertility. “We specifically seek to invest in companies that are genuinely committed to leveraging technology to improve health outcomes and that can directly benefit from WELL's ecosystem, size and scale,” said Shahbazi.

Although the firm will keep an eye on technology around the world, Shahbazi said the focus for investing will be closer to home. “We want to be investing in the best concepts and entrepreneurs globally. But there's definitely a bias towards Canada,” said Shahbazi. “I would say US and Canada are going to be likely where most of our focus goes. But we definitely have a preference for Canada supporting homegrown digital health companies here.”

Last month, WELL Health Technologies announced the acquisition of MyHealth Partners Inc for $206 million. The deal marked WELL’s 26th acquisition since the beginning of 2020.

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