D.C. venture capital firm Zeal Capital Partners is making good on its plans to stretch its investments into health equity, bringing on former New Enterprise Associates health care investor Emily Zhen as a principal.
Zeal specializes in investing in early-stage fintech and future-of-work entrepreneurs. Its inclusive investing strategy homes in on ventures with diverse management teams that can bring about high returns for investors, while having a net positive effect on society.
With the addition of Zhen, the firm is branching into the health care space to look for founders often overlooked by traditional investors because of background, gender, ethnicity, geography or experiences.
Zhen helped deploy more than $500 million in capital during her tenure at Chevy Chase's New Enterprise Associates, and also incubated portfolio companies and facilitated public offerings and follow-on financings. Before joining Zeal, she was a member of the health care investment banking team at Goldman Sachs.
"Emily will be an invaluable contributor on our team as we spearhead the launch of our new health equity vertical," Nasir Qadree, founder and managing partner of Zeal Capital Partners, said in a statement. “She brings multistage investing, operating and research experience in health care.”
Zhen's hire follows Zeal's appointment of Jarron Smith as its first COO four months ago. The firm said at the time it planned to move into the health equity sector.
In May, Zeal disclosed plans to launch a second fund of as much as $120 million. It pulled in $62.1 million in its oversubscribed first fund that was closed in mid-2021.
