TEX-Ö [tek-soe]
Latin for: to build with great care

Our Industrya brief overview of the business of healthcare...

In 2012, healthcare spending in the US was nearly $3 trillion or approximately
18% of the Gross Domestic Product.

With another $90 trillion in estimated unfunded liabilities, the rate of healthcare spending is unsustainable and represents one of the single greatest threats to the economy.

Our Storybuilding innovative healthcare companies with great care...

“Held in the palms of thousands of disgruntled people over the centuries have been ideas worth millions – if they only had taken the first step and then followed through.”

– Robert M. Hayes

Audacious entrepreneurs who refuse to accept the status quo are the driving force behind innovation.

But the road to building a successful healthcare company is lined with innovative ideas that failed because the healthcare industry is unforgiving.  While the odds may be against them, we founded TEXO Ventures to stack the deck in favor of entrepreneurs who dare to redefine our healthcare industry.

As entrepreneurs with operational backgrounds, we understand the importance of being properly resourced when it matters the most.  True to our namesake, we build innovative healthcare companies with great care.  We bring to bear the full weight of over 60 years of combined experience in healthcare and company creation because the initial stages of commercialization are critical to a company’s long-term success.

process


Our Focuswe seek to invest in exceptional entrepreneurs...

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world!”

– Joel Arthur Barker

The enemy of innovation is the absence of effective collaboration.  At TEXO, we do not believe in passive investing.  We get proactively and continuously involved to ensure that our entrepreneurs are properly resourced and supported to act on their vision … and change the world.  We seek to invest in exceptional entrepreneurs who address persistent pain within the healthcare industry by leveraging advances in technology and business models to decrease utilization, increase access, improve quality and reduce the cost of care.

We are committed to getting back-to-basics with the early-stage investment strategies of the late-1980s and early-1990s when venture capitalists invested with conviction, deployed smaller funds, targeted capital efficient innovations with sustainable revenue models and got materially involved alongside their entrepreneurs to create tangible value.  To do this well, we have a narrow focus that allows us to best leverage our combined networks and experience. We invest in the “business” of healthcare rather than the “science” in order to pursue investments that often require less capital, are more scalable, have fewer regulatory hurdles and are capable of generating recurring revenue.  We specifically target companies that are able to leverage existing distribution channels in order to more efficiently and cost-effectively get to market.

We primarily invest across the following four sectors:

  • Health IT & Technology-Enabled Health Services
  • Managed Care & Benefit Design
  • Medical Devices & Diagnostics*
  • Personalized Medicine Technology

* Due to high capital requirements, longer exit horizons, adoption concerns, distribution challenges, tax reform and uncertainty surrounding government regulation, we will typically only consider a medical device or diagnostic that is uniquely differentiated and synergistic with ongoing reform initiatives.  There must also be a near-term regulatory pathway that is clear and cost-effective such as an FDA 510(k) clearance.

We will NOT consider making an initial investment in late-stage companies or in sectors with higher regulatory risk such as therapeutics, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

We will NOT consider making an initial investment in companies with a premoney valuation greater than $20 million, but tend to focus on opportunities between $3 and $10 million.


Our Teamwe are passionate about redefining the healthcare industry...

Managing Partners

  • Philip Sanger, MD

  • Jerry DeVries

  • Randall Crowder Adviser