Innovative health tech startups with big ideas will not get very far if they cannot convince the turtles in the traditional health care system to give them a shot. To that end, Silicon Valley venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz has partnered with rural health system Bassett Healthcare Network to serve as a sort of preferred testing ground for its portfolio companies.
The deal, which is the first of its kind for a16z’s Bio+Health Fund, creates a formal process for the Cooperstown, NY.-based health system to consider the offerings of companies backed by a16z.
A16z general partner Julie Yoo said that the structure helps ensure that its portfolio companies get fast-tracked with a partner that’s serious about seeing the project through. Too often, companies burn precious capital on a pilot with a health system only to learn there isn’t the high-level buy-in to make a solution work in the long-term.
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