Healthcare-focused venture fund Baleon Capital joins the mix in Miami

‘The Capital of Capital” has been busy. Three new venture funds have been announced in the past week. 

Baleon Capital, a new Miami-based venture capital firm started by investment veteran Jon Kaiden, announced the close of its first fund today. This fund will focus on healthcare and will invest in pre-Series A and Series A startups building efficiencies through technology.

“The healthcare industry is notorious for being slow adopters of technology – a fundamental need in serving and reaching patients,” said Kaiden, who is the firm’s Managing Partner. “The urgency around digital adoption was highlighted by the past year’s events, with one silver lining of the pandemic being the proliferation of telehealth services. Baleon will build on this momentum, investing in the future of healthcare by bringing together capital to tackle the industry’s largest issues – from the way we pay for healthcare in this country to the technology gap in patient care.”

Kaiden did not disclose the fund amount, but told TechCrunch that Baleon plans to invest $5 million to $10 million in 8 to 12 companies initially and is targeting $100 million for its second fund. With Fund 1, Baleon has already invested in three companies: Mantra Health,a digital mental health clinic, patient/provider communication provider LifeLink and ClearStep, an Ai care navigation platform.

Before founding Baleon in Miami, Kaiden was a founding member and principal at Sopris Capital, where he achieved an IRR that puts him in the top 95% of all early-stage funds, the company said in its announcement. Healthcare-related venture is one of the most active sectors in the Miami metro area.  

Earlier this week, Refresh Miami brought you the news of two more venture funds locating in South Florida.

Glades Capital on Monday announced the launch of its first fund, aimed at investing $50,000 to $250,000 in seed-stage tech startups specifically  in the South Florida ecosystem. The firm, based in Parkland, was founded by Jim Ryan,  founder of OutPLEX, an international company with more than 2,000 employees specializing in digital transformation at enterprise scale, He has also been a local angel investor as well as an advisor to regional university startup accelerators at at Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, Nova Southeastern University and Broward College.

 “Our methods are designed to empower startups in the rapidly growing South Florida economy, and we intend to leverage our network and expertise to positively impact the region’s startup ecosystem,” Ryan said.

Meanwhile, True Beauty Ventures, a beauty and wellness firm, closed its debut fund at $42 million. The fund, to be based in Miami and New York, is supported by an LP base of beauty founders and executives, financial institutions, and family offices.

Led by Rich Gersten and Cristina Nuñez, True Beauty makes $1 million to $5 million investments in beauty, wellness and personal care brands seeking a partnership anchored in strategic and operational sector expertise. The firm will invest from Seed to Series C, and has made six investments to date.

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Nancy Dahlberg