Stella Ventures Announces Investment in Seae Ventures

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Dec 03, 2020, 12:00 ET

EAGAN, Minn., Dec. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Seae Ventures, an early-stage healthcare service and technology fund, has secured an investment from Stella Ventures. Based in Boston and founded by three former health plan executives, Seae will focus its investments on minority- and women-owned companies with the potential to accelerate disruptive innovation across the health care ecosystem.

Stella Ventures is part of a Minnesota-based family of companies committed to reinventing health care and improving health for the people it serves. The Stella family includes Minnesota's largest non-profit health plan; Further, one of the nation's leading medical spending account administrators; supportive medical care services; and a number of other subsidiary and affiliate companies.

"The widening gap in physical and mental health disparities among traditionally underserved and underrepresented populations has been exposed in the COVID-19 era," said Pete Sally, co-founder and managing partner at Seae Ventures. "At the same time, the current health care system continues its failure in addressing these specific needs. We need new approaches, new technologies, and new thinking in health care that reflects the full diversity of our country. At Seae, we're on a mission to work with like-minded partners like Stella Ventures and broaden the funding funnel to include companies that fully leverage and integrate women and people of color. This investment from Stella Ventures will help more entrepreneurs who are doing exactly that."

According to a 2018 report issued by McKinsey & Company, businesses founded and/or run by women receive only 2.7 percent of all venture investments, with women of color receiving just 0.2 percent. Similar disparities exist on the venture funding side, with minority males comprising 14 percent of investors and minority females making up a mere 3 percent.

"The Stella family of companies wants to change the mainstream narrative of health care by giving more voice to those most impacted by societal and racial inequities," said John Uribe, vice president of corporate development for Stella Ventures. "In order to bring about meaningful and lasting change, we need experts like Seae Ventures who share our strategic priorities and can help us realize the potential of a stronger health care industry. By shaping policies, business practices, and marketplaces through our expertise, networking strength, and capital investments, we want to do what we can to ensure no one group is left out or left behind."

The founding partners of Seae Ventures − Tuoyo Louis, Jason Robart, and Peter Sally − began their collaboration seven years ago at a leading health plan headquartered in Boston, developing and managing the organization's strategic investment program. During their shared tenure in the health insurance industry, the group founded Zaffre Investments, a wholly owned corporate venture capital subsidiary. In 2019, the three set out on their own to start Seae Ventures to better balance the needs of patients, providers, and payers by investing in diverse entrepreneurs with high growth potential. Visit seaeventures.com for more information.

SOURCE Stella