How Annie Lamont Became A Health Tech Heavy Hitter, And Built A $650 Million Fortune

Forbes

Before she was Connecticut’s First Lady, Midas lister Annie Lamont was making early bets on health tech — and reaping big returns. Four decades into investing, she’s reinventing herself again for the AI era.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rashishrivastava/2024/06/04/how-midas-lister-annie-lamont-became-a-health-tech-heavy-hitter/?sh=692b7c8016e0  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, how the First Lady of Connecticut built a multi-billion dollar venture firm.

00:08In January 2001, the co-founders of Athena Health met with investor Annie Lamont to share

00:14some bad news.

00:16Two key customers of their three-year-old health tech startup, which offered software

00:20to manage medical records, billing, and claims, were cutting ties.

00:25There would be a serious hit to sales.

00:28Jonathan Bush, the startup's CEO, asked Lamont if she planned to sue to get back her $15

00:33million check.

00:34He was only half-kidding.

00:36Lamont replied, quote, of course not.

00:40Bush had a new strategy.

00:41Instead of going after large hospital systems, they'd focus on small group practices.

00:46Lamont was in.

00:49Twenty years later, Lamont's faith in Bush and co-founder Todd Park was rewarded when

00:54their business was sold to two private equity firms for $17 billion in 2021, an approximate

01:0020x return from her initial check.

01:04Speaking now about the bumpy, but ultimately lucrative, bet, Lamont said, quote, this was

01:09a long road.

01:11Bush told Forbes, quote, we respected her because she didn't flinch.

01:16Lamont's long-term approach to such relationships, which can span decades, paid off again when

01:22she backed Park's later venture, Devoted Health.

01:25With Devoted Health now valued at $12.9 billion, her initial $20 million investment in 2017

01:32into the Medicare Advantage insurance plan provider is now worth about $1 billion to

01:37Lamont and her backers at Oak HCFT, the investment firm she co-founded in 2014.

01:44Those investments, and others in the healthcare and fintech space such as early bets on primary

01:49care provider VillageMD and prepaid debit card provider Netspend, land Lamont back on

01:55the Midas list, Forbes' annual ranking of the world's top tech investors, which was

02:00revealed yesterday.

02:02It's her fifth appearance, but the first since 2015, a reflection of the long-game approach

02:07that Lamont takes to startup investing.

02:09She said, quote, these are friends, these are comrades.

02:13We're in battle and we're there not just for the length of 10 years for one company,

02:17but 20 to 30 years for three or four companies.

02:21For Lamont, who is 67 years old, the $5.3 billion in assets Oak HCFT is the latest chapter

02:28in a career that spans multiple firms and four decades, with lifetime investments in

02:33at least 80 companies.

02:35She's returned an estimated $1.5 billion to investors over the last decade, according

02:40to a source familiar with the firm's finances.

02:44Lamont's a prominent figure outside of venture, too.

02:47As the spouse of Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, she's served as first lady of Connecticut

02:52since 2019.

02:54The secret to Lamont's sustained success, she says, is an ability to spot and embrace

02:59new tech cycles, even if they force her to turn her attention away from a currently lucrative

03:04path.

03:06With the advent of the Internet, she switched her focus from life sciences to digital health.

03:10And as online payments became ubiquitous in the years since PayPal's dot-com rise, it

03:15called for a more recent, increased focus on fintech startups, too.

03:19Lamont said, quote, it is not about being a one-hit-wonder in venture.

03:23It is about reinventing yourself across different cycles.

03:28Lamont appeared on our Midas list for the first time in 2008, after decades working

03:32with multistage VC firm Oak Investment Partners.

03:36In 2014, Lamont teamed up with two colleagues to launch a new firm with a similar name,

03:40Oak HCFT.

03:42The new firm raised $500 million for its first fund and $1.94 billion for its most recent

03:48fund, the firm's fifth.

03:50In the decade since its launch, the Oak HCFT portfolio has run the gamut of health tech.

03:56Highlights include CareBridge, a virtual care and in-home tech provider for caregivers,

04:01MainStreet Health, which caters to rural markets, and Brightline, which offers virtual mental

04:07health therapy for children.

04:09She's also backed companies like One Medical, which was bought by Amazon for $3.9 billion

04:14in 2023, primary care provider VillageMD, which was valued at $15.8 billion per pitchbook,

04:21and payments platform Rapid, which has an $8.75 billion valuation.

04:27Lamont's long career of successful venture bets have paid off personally.

04:31Forbes estimates her net worth at $650 million, ranking her tied for No. 54 on the Self-Made

04:37Women list we released last month.

04:41For full coverage, check out Rashi Srivastava's piece on Forbes.com.

04:46This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:49Thanks for tuning in.

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