JJIV News & Insights

Entrepreneurs and development professionals can be powerful champions of better healthcare. With the right resources, support and training, their efficacy as advocates could be exponential.

Investing in HealthQuad opens new doors for J&J Impact Ventures to play a larger role in supporting health innovation in India because of the vast need and great potential.

Of the $715 billion global impact investing market, corporate impact investors in innovation manage more than $7.2 billion in committed capital, an amount that has been increasing at a 54% compounded annual rate since 2016, according to this Stanford Social Innovation Review article. However, only 7% of the total impact investing assets under management focus on improving health, not nearly the capital needed to solve the many critical public health challenges facing our world today. Impact investors not engaged in global health have cited the unique and high risks in health innovation (that an investment may not provide returns quickly or at all) and the specific expertise required to help health start-ups scale and maximize impact.

As a standalone social venture, Jacaranda Maternity was able to break even and now has two busy hospitals and opening a third to help tens of thousands of women across Kenya through their pregnancies.

The partnership with SLMC shines light on another aspect of J&J Impact Ventures’ offerings: J&J employees as mentors, who engage directly with staff on strategy and other aspects of the work to accelerate progress.

Investing in Cross-Border Impact Ventures, a women-run fund, furthers J&J Impact Ventures’ mission to invest in tech-forward solutions centered around representation, diversity and equity.

Together, nurses and midwives make up half of the global health workforce, but far more nurses and midwives are needed to address the current and growing needs. Latest projections from the World Health Organization estimate that the world will need an additional 9 million nurses and midwives by 2030 to reach Sustainable Development Goals.

The compounding factors of the COVID-19 pandemic and an aging population have placed an unprecedented level of pressure on our health workforce, putting Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) in high demand in the United States. Not only are CNAs highly sought-after amid a caregiver shortage, but this role also serves as a critical entrance into the health workforce. An effective springboard, many workers advance from CNA to Registered Nurse as they grow a fulfilling career in health.

In every corner of the globe, entrepreneurs are building innovative solutions to address the most pressing health challenges. Yet, the early-stage investment ecosystem tends to consolidate venture capital among a chosen few people and places. In the US, less than 2% goes to Black and Latinx entrepreneurs, and more than 75% of global venture capital goes to only three U.S. states. Village Capital’s mission—to make impact investing more inclusive by supporting entrepreneurs who have largely been overlooked and systemically excluded from early-stage investing—

With health technology investing at an all-time high, a key question must guide the support of critical new health innovations: How do we uplift entrepreneurs who are addressing society’s toughest challenges in high-need communities?