How We Chose
We looked at healthcare news from September 15 to October 27, 2026 for evidence that an investor's earlier bet was paying off: an acquisition or IPO, a portfolio company with fast growth in customers or users, or a launch with clear adoption numbers. We kept partners who led or co-led an early round in that company or serve on its board, and we ranked them by our editors' judgment of how early the bet was and how strong the result looks now. Round sizes appear only as context.
Hottest Healthcare Industry Investors (November 2026)
| # | Name | Firm | Why now |
|---|
| 1 | Michael Tolo | Blackbird | Backed Heidi at pre-seed; Heidi now supports 2.8M visits a week |
| 2 | Andrew Brackin | Gradient | Led Vera Health's seed; Vera reached 800,000+ clinicians |
| 3 | Alex Niehenke | Scale Venture Partners | Agilent agreed to acquire Proscia, Oct 13 |
| 4 | Josh Kopelman | First Round | Co-led Healthleap's seed; 3 to 50+ hospitals in a year |
| 5 | Julie Yoo | Andreessen Horowitz | AKASA's inpatient volume grew almost 6x in a year |
| 6 | Blake Wu | NEA | Basalt cut referral processing time 86% at Lifepoint |
2.8MPatient visits a week on Heidi, which he backed at its pre-seed
1. Michael Tolo
Partner, Blackbird
- Notable bet
- Heidi Health
- Why now
- Blackbird led Heidi's Series C, announced September 22, 2026, and called Heidi its fastest-growing investment.
Tolo is a partner at Blackbird, based in Melbourne, Australia. He was earlier an investor at Playground Global in Palo Alto, California, and at Future Fund in Melbourne, and on his Blackbird profile he says the greatest risk a venture investor can take is not taking enough risk. He has also written Blackbird's investment notes on Coherence Neuro and on Remedy Robotics, which Blackbird says completed the world's first fully remote robotic surgery for neurovascular intervention.
Why now
"We've backed Tom and the team since their pre-seed in 2021 and our conviction is greater than ever," Tolo told Forbes Australia. Heidi's annual recurring revenue grew from $1 million to $50 million in two years, and it has supported more than 175 million patient visits, according to its announcement. Blackbird said in August that it owned 35% of Heidi, before it led the new round.
Michael Tolo profileHeidi Health review
800,000+Clinicians using Vera Health, up from a few thousand a year earlier
2. Andrew Brackin
Partner, Gradient
- Notable bet
- Vera Health
- Why now
- Gradient led Vera's seed round; Vera announced its Series A on October 27, 2026, and Gradient tripled down.
Brackin is a partner at Gradient, where he invests in vertical AI, healthcare, and application software. Originally from London, he was a 2013 Thiel Fellow, co-founded the clinical trial company Vial, and was the founding head of growth at Newfront, the commercial insurance brokerage that WTW acquired in 2025. He lives in San Francisco, California.
Why now
Gradient led Vera's seed round alongside Garry Tan at Y Combinator, and in March Brackin wrote that Vera had become the fastest-growing clinical AI app in the world. Vera has been the most downloaded clinical app every month since June, and in September it was downloaded more times than OpenEvidence and Doximity combined, with a team of 12, according to its announcement.
Andrew Brackin profileVera Health review
4,000+Labs, hospitals, and clinics on Proscia, which Agilent agreed to buy
3. Alex Niehenke
Partner, Scale Venture Partners
- Notable bet
- Proscia
- Why now
- Agilent agreed on October 13, 2026 to acquire Proscia, where Scale led an investment in 2020 and Niehenke joined the board.
Niehenke has been at Scale Venture Partners since 2012 and invests in vertical markets where established companies have not invested in modern software. He was born in Germany, attended seven schools before college, and earned degrees in business administration and legal studies at UC Berkeley. His earlier bets include Motive, Root Insurance, which went public, and Scout RFP, which Workday acquired.
Why now
When Scale led its investment in Proscia in December 2020, Niehenke wrote that the company was building "the first software solution that pathologists use to gather, analyze, manipulate, share, and store their primary data." On October 13, Agilent agreed to buy Proscia for $240 million in cash plus up to $30 million in milestone payments. Proscia serves more than 4,000 laboratories, hospitals, and clinics and 16 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies, according to the Agilent announcement.
Alex Niehenke profile
50+Hospitals using Healthleap, up from three a year earlier
4. Josh Kopelman
Co-founder and Partner, First Round
- Notable bet
- Healthleap
- Why now
- First Round co-led Healthleap's seed round with Sequoia Capital; Healthleap announced its funding on October 7, 2026.
Kopelman co-founded First Round in 2004 after starting three companies: Infonautics, which he co-founded in college and took public in 1996, Half.com, which eBay acquired in 2000, and the anti-spam company TurnTide, which Symantec bought six months after it was founded. His healthcare investments at First Round include Flatiron Health, which was acquired, and Clover Health, which went public.
Why now
Kopelman said First Round was drawn to Healthleap's vision of hospitals using "real-time AI to spot overlooked clinical risk," in the company's announcement. Healthleap grew from three hospital partners to more than 50 in a year, and its revenue grew more than 10 times over the same period, chief executive Josiah Meyer told TechCrunch. Its customers include Penn Medicine, Cedars-Sinai, and Houston Methodist.
Josh Kopelman profileHealthleap review
6xGrowth in inpatient volume AKASA processed in a year
5. Julie Yoo
General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
- Notable bet
- AKASA
- Why now
- AKASA launched autonomous inpatient coding on October 2, 2026; Yoo led its Series A in 2020 and joined its board.
Yoo co-founded Kyruus, which matches patients with doctors who have room in their schedules, and was its chief product officer for eight years before joining Andreessen Horowitz in 2019. She studied computer science at MIT, and her investments include Ambience, Hippocratic AI, and Turquoise Health.
Why now
Yoo led AKASA's Series A in 2020 and joined its board, writing that she wanted to back automation in "the very process by which providers get paid." AKASA's customers now account for about 1 in 10 U.S. inpatient discharges, and the inpatient volume it processes grew almost six times in a year, according to its October launch announcement. "Healthcare cannot meet the scale of demand ahead through human labor alone," Yoo said.
Julie Yoo profileAKASA review
86%Faster referral processing at Lifepoint Health with Basalt
6. Blake Wu
Partner, NEA
- Notable bet
- Basalt Health
- Why now
- NEA, an investor since Basalt's seed round, led its Series A, announced September 24, 2026.
Wu has invested in digital health and biopharmaceutical companies at NEA since 2014, and his portfolio includes Aetion and Collective Health. NEA backed Basalt in its seed round, and Wu serves on its board.
Why now
Basalt cut median referral processing time at Lifepoint Health from 8.5 minutes to 1.2 minutes and is rolling out to 111 Lifepoint and ScionHealth markets by the end of 2026, according to its announcement. Wu said the platform "is becoming essential infrastructure for care teams."
Blake Wu profileBasalt Health review
What to Watch Next Month
- Heidi's next markets. Heidi is putting its new money into new markets such as France and Germany and into AI that handles clinical work after the note is written, the bet Michael Tolo has backed since 2021.
- Proscia's closing. Agilent expects its purchase of Proscia to close early in its fiscal year 2027.
- Basalt's rollout. Basalt is due to reach 111 Lifepoint and ScionHealth markets by the end of 2026, the next test for the company Blake Wu backed at its seed.
The Hottest Healthcare Industry Investors list is updated monthly. This is the first edition. Past editions will be linked here, and every HIR list and report is in our research library.