7wire Ventures, a Chicago-based VC firm led by Glen Tullman and Lee Shapiro, announced Wednesday that it has closed a $100 million fund to invest in innovative healthcare companies.
The fund has so far invested in 12 companies, including Tullman's Livongo Health, which recently raised $105 million led by General Catalyst and Kinnevik.
7wire also announced that it has formed a coalition with a group of eight U.S. healthcare organizations that are limited partners in the fund and will work with 7wire to identify promising healthcare companies and develop strategic partnerships. The organizations in the coalition include Allina Health, Arkansas BlueCross BlueShield, Bon Secours Health System, Cigna, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Memorial Hermann Health System, Rush University Medical Center and Spectrum Health.
"They joined the Fund for many reasons---to learn from the market insights associated with the work of 7wire Ventures and to transform their businesses as healthcare consumerism takes hold, as well as to achieve financial returns," Shapiro said in an email.
Both Shapiro and Tullman have been investing together for over 20 years. They both worked at Allscripts---Tullman as CEO and Shapiro as president---and led the company to an IPO. Tullman is now the CEO of Livongo Health, a California-based startup that has a large and growing office in Chicago. Livongo has raised more than $240 million to date.
The $100 million fund is one of the biggest raised by a Chicago VC firm in recent years. Chuck Templeton's S2G Ventures raised $180 million last year, and Origin Ventures raised $80 million in 2017 for its fourth fund.
7wire's other investments in the fund include Chicago-based Zest Health and nOCD.
