Learn about KKR’s decision to lead Qventus’ latest funding round and get their take on healthcare AI
By: Jamie Burgess
Earlier this year, Qventus announced a $105 million funding round led by global investment firm KKR. I had the opportunity to interview Jake Heller, Partner and Head of KKR’s Technology Growth team in the Americas, and Jessica Allen, a Principal at KKR, at a recent All Hands to share their strategic approach to investing in companies that “sit at the intersection of growth and technology.”
We are all seeing that healthcare AI startups are attracting investor dollars because of their promise to transform health operations in the U.S. Read on to learn what makes Qventus stand out from the crowd.
Jamie: Can you all tell us a little bit about KKR?
Jake: KKR is almost 50 years old now and started as a North American late stage buyout firm. We started the tech growth strategy, which led Qventus’ latest round, nearly a decade ago. Since then, we have looked for a specific kind of company that sits at this intersection of growth and technology—companies that are category leading, category defining or category disrupting. We think about companies that are operating efficiently with unit level economics that work, that are taking advantage of a really big market opportunity.
Jamie: We’d love to hear what excited you about Qventus.
Jessica: Something that we really try and focus on is technology solutions that can be tied to a hard dollar ROI, and that jumped off the page when we talked to Qventus customers. The kind of customer feedback on their platform was really meaningful. You felt that demand from customers wanting to pull Qventus into more places. I think it’s always really positive when you hear from certain customers, “if you guys rip this out I will quit”. The pain point that Qventus is solving is that acute.
Something that I was personally surprised to discover is that some health systems had benchmarked Qventus’ ROIs being on average 50% higher than the alternatives. That’s not something that we necessarily expected to find in our diligence because the market is so greenfield.
Jamie: Last question. We’d like to just get both of your thoughts on what you’re hoping to see from Qventus in 2025 and beyond.
Jake: There are really big opportunities in front of the company, and we think Qventus is in a very strong position to take advantage of those opportunities.
Jessica: You all are in a great market position. Your customers see you as a thought partner in terms of innovation. Continue to double down on that reputation and continue to be the innovator in the space.
Jamie: Thank you for spending time with the team today and telling us a little bit more about KKR and your choice to invest in Qventus.
Contact us today to learn more about how Qventus is driving ROI for health systems including Northwestern Medicine, HonorHealth, and ThedaCare.
