FCA Venture Partners Research
Investment Thesis
FCA Venture Partners is a specialized healthcare venture capital firm dedicated to investing in companies that transform healthcare through technology and innovative services. Founded in 1996 and based in Nashville, Tennessee, FCA has developed deep domain expertise across the healthcare ecosystem over 15+ years of investing. The firm believes that the future of healthcare will be shaped by companies that improve patient care, reduce costs, streamline operations, and reshape how healthcare is delivered and managed. FCA partners with founding teams to build thriving healthcare technology businesses through active board engagement, strategic guidance, and valuable introductions across their extensive healthcare network.
Investment Focus Areas
FCA concentrates on four core healthcare sectors:
Providers: Companies improving patient experience, streamlining provider operations, enabling clinical teams to deliver higher-quality care with greater efficiency, and reducing costs for health systems. This includes care transitions, clinical documentation, surgical vendor management, vision screening, and primary care integration.
Payers: Companies helping insurers and health plans coordinate care, engage members for better health outcomes, manage risk, and optimize operations. Investments include behavioral health solutions, care navigation platforms, patient engagement software, and claims/revenue cycle management.
Pharma: Companies expanding pharmaceutical company access and engagement with providers and patients, improving clinical trial workflows, and unlocking data and insights that drive better outcomes. Investments include trial recruitment, data management, physician engagement, and patient insights platforms.
Innovative Care Delivery: Companies reshaping how healthcare is delivered by meeting patients where they are, expanding access through technology, and building scalable solutions. This includes at-home care, specialty services delivery, telehealth integration, and niche care solutions.
Stage and Check Size
FCA primarily invests at Seed and Series A/B stages:
- Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Check Size: $2-8M per investment
- Target Company Profile: $500K-$10M in annualized revenue with 50%+ annual growth rate
- Deployment Strategy: Active investor with focus on meaningful board engagement and value-add support
Investment Criteria
FCA targets healthcare technology companies with:
- Annualized Revenue: $500K-$10M
- Annual Growth Rate: 50%+
- Investment Stage: Seed and Series A/B
- FCA Investment Amount: $2-8M
Recent Activity and Investment Momentum
FCA Venture Partners has been actively deploying capital from its portfolio of five funds totaling $285 million in capital raised. Recent notable investments and portfolio company milestones include:
2025 Recent Investments:
- November 2025: LifeLens - Series C investment
- November 2025: IgniteData - Led $11M Series A round (with Labcorp Venture Fund and Epsilon)
- October 2025: Spiras Health - Strategic investors round
- July 2025: Goldman Sachs Alternatives leads evolvedMD $34M Series B (FCA participated)
- June 2025: Vellum Health - Series A led by FCA (mobile IV care platform)
Portfolio Exit/Acquisition Activity:
- July 2025: eBlu Solutions acquired by Knipper Health
- December 2024: CoachCare acquired Nvolve
- 2024: Multiple portfolio company milestones (Watershed Health $13.6M seed, Credo Health $5.25M seed)
Fund Status: FCA Venture Partners is actively deploying from its fund portfolio, with recent major commitments indicating strong deployment velocity and confidence in healthcare tech investments.
Portfolio Highlights
FCA has backed 99+ portfolio companies across its fund history, including notable companies and successful outcomes:
Active Portfolio Highlights:
- Watershed Health: Securing $13.6M+ in funding to solve uncoordinated care
- evolvedMD: $34M Series B (led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives) - behavioral health integration in primary care
- Vellum Health: Series A round (led by FCA) - mobile IV care and infusion therapy
- Impiricus: 2025 Deloitte Fast 500 rankings top performer - pharma physician engagement
- Spiras Health: At-home care for chronic conditions with strategic investor backing
- Carallel: Caregiving support platform with $8.2M Series A (led by FCA)
- Credo Health: Clinical data and risk adjustment with $5.25M seed
- evolvedMD: Behavioral health integration in primary care
- SonderMind: Mental health access platform
- Crater Health: Digital digestive health platform
Successful Exits:
- RubiconMD - acquired by Oak Street Health (2021)
- ShiftWizard - acquired by HealthStream (2020)
- Lumere - acquired by GHX (2020)
- Health iPASS - acquired by SphereCommerce (2020)
- Kerafast - merged with Absolute Antibody (2018)
- ChartWise - acquired by Iodine Software (2021)
- Nvolve - acquired by CoachCare (2023)
- PrecisionGx - acquired by Trend Health Partners (2023)
- eBlu Solutions - acquired by Knipper Health (2025)
Team
FCA Venture Partners is led by experienced healthcare and business leaders with deep operational expertise:
Leadership:
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Matt King, Managing Partner: Joined FCA in 2001. Previously co-founded MyOfficeProducts, Inc., served as CEO of Radar Business Systems. Extensive board service including Wake Forest University, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, Wake Forest University Health Sciences. BA from Wake Forest University.
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John Burch, Managing Partner: Joined FCA in 2001. Previously co-founded MyOfficeProducts, Inc. as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer. VP of Motorent Inc. (Avis licensee). Active board member at multiple organizations.
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Tom Hearn, Partner: 35+ years of healthcare leadership experience. Previously Senior VP of Ambulatory Services at Novant Health (multi-state health system). Chief Development Officer of MedCath Inc. (KKR and Welsh Carson portfolio company). Co-founded Decision Support Systems (healthcare IT company). BA from College of William and Mary, MBA and MPH from University of Alabama at Birmingham.
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Todd Johnson, Partner: Deep expertise in healthcare technology investments
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Andrew Bouldin, Partner: Healthcare sector specialist
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Whitney Kalb, Partner & General Counsel: Legal and governance oversight
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Nancy Allen, Partner, CFO: Financial management and operations
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George Curran, Principal: Investment identification and due diligence
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Andy Lutz, Principal: Portfolio management support
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Will Hawkins, Principal: Healthcare sector analysis
Supporting Team:
- John Orr, Vice President
- Tucker Deaton, Director of Finance
Lead vs. Follow Tendency
FCA demonstrates a lead tendency with meaningful board seats and active portfolio engagement. The firm:
- Leads Series A and Seed rounds (recent examples: IgniteData Series A, Vellum Health Series A, Carallel Series A)
- Takes board seats and provides strategic oversight
- Participates in Series B follow-ons when appropriate
- Has capacity to deploy $2-8M per investment
Strategic Value Add
FCA Venture Partners provides meaningful operational support beyond capital:
Board-Level Support: Active, engaged board members who provide strategic oversight without being overbearing.
Strategic Advice: Feedback and guidance on financial planning, key hiring decisions, go-to-market strategy, and exit evaluations.
Customer Introductions: Extensive healthcare network (health systems, provider groups, payers, pharma companies) enables strategic customer introductions for portfolio companies.
Recruiting Support: Assistance recruiting and interviewing key leadership hires.
Capital Formation: Help developing capital raise strategies and introductions to growth and strategic investors.
Portfolio Connections: Facilitates connections among portfolio CEOs to share learnings and scale more effectively.
Network and Strategic Partnerships
FCA maintains relationships across the healthcare ecosystem including health systems (Wake Med, Wake Forest Health, Tampa General Hospital, Saint Francis, OrthoCarolina, Novant Health), payers (Blue Cross NC), and healthcare organizations (Laerdal, ECU Health, Cone Health, Atrium Health). These relationships provide valuable opportunities for portfolio company introductions, customer development, and strategic partnerships.
Decision Process and Timeline
FCA operates with a partnership-based decision process involving multiple partners with healthcare domain expertise. The partnership approach ensures diverse perspectives and deep healthcare knowledge informing investment decisions. Decision timeline typically spans 4-8 weeks for Seed stage companies and 6-12 weeks for Series A, depending on diligence complexity and market knowledge.
Geographic Focus
Primary focus on US healthcare companies, with particular strength in Southeast (Nashville base provides local ecosystem advantage). Investments are concentrated in US with secondary focus on companies serving US healthcare market.
Founder Profile and Preferences
FCA seeks founding teams that:
- Have deep healthcare domain expertise and understanding of healthcare operations pain points
- Bring complementary skills (technical founders with clinical/operational co-founders or vice versa)
- Demonstrate passion for solving real healthcare problems and improving patient outcomes
- Have proven execution ability through prior startup success or operational leadership
- Are comfortable with active partnership and board engagement
Notable pattern: Many portfolio companies founded by healthcare operators (hospital executives, clinical leaders, payers staff) combining domain expertise with entrepreneurial ambition.
Anti-Thesis
FCA avoids:
- Pure consumer health plays without B2B2C or B2B channel
- Pharmaceutical compounds and biotech development
- Hardware-only plays without software/services layer
- Companies without clear healthcare reimbursement path
- Founders without healthcare domain expertise
Fund Status
FCA manages five funds with $285 million total capital raised. Latest fund (FCA Health Innovations II) closed at $71 million (January 2023). The firm is actively deploying with strong investment pace, indicating healthy fund status and confident healthcare technology market positioning.