Venture Capital Investing in Health Care

Todd Perman: 

Thanks for having me, Elana. I really appreciate the time and interest. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman:

Absolutely, Todd. So, to kick off the conversation, tell us a little about the firm and how you got to where you are today. 

Todd Perman:

Absolutely. I spent about 15 years in medical devices actually working with U.S. Surgical and Stryker, and then started an investment banking company that I ended up selling to Cantor Fitzgerald in 2012, growing that for another 10 years. In 2020, I started evaluating what I was going to do next and where I was going to invest my time, money, and really driving at my own investment platform. And that's when I started SEED. SEED was really founded with the mission to disrupt health care, which, if you look at what's happening in the world, health care is broken, reimbursement models all the way through to how we're diagnosing disease and the challenges of that. And really ultimately, we founded SEED with the mission to invest in companies that can disrupt that problem. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman:

Todd, it definitely is a very interesting time in your space, VC investing in health care, and I'd love to hear a high-level overall outlook for your sector. 

Todd Perman: 

That is a great question, and really when you start to think about it, Elana, the one thing that is constant in the world is health care is a big need, it's part of the infrastructure, so that speaks towards where the outlook is. It's always going to grow. It's always going to continue to be something that the world has to invest in. I'd say different countries go about it differently, which you've got single pair systems all the way through to how we do it in the U.S. And those different kinds of environment allow for a lot of growth, a lot of opportunity and a lot of impact. I would say the number one challenge in the world though is how late we're diagnosing chronic disease. And I'd say that if we focus in on moving the curve to where we're diagnosing disease earlier, we can treat disease and reverse it versus actually just the disease managing us. So, for us, our number one theory of change is catch disease early, create processes and invest in technologies that catch them in every aspect, women's health, cancer, brain health, arteriosclerosis, heart disease, nobody should die of a heart attack today. So that's my theory and that's what we invest in. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman: 

Todd, more specifically, in your space, where do you see some of the greatest opportunities and why? 

Todd Perman: 

That is another good question. I lean into the chronic illnesses. Between 75 and 80% of the spend, if we just take the U.S., of the $4.5 trillion dollars is invested in treating that late-stage disease. So, for us, it's all about gearing towards cutting costs by actually catching it earlier and moving the needle in that area. I think that's the number one space we're going to invest and getting to the point of care patients and really driving change in that environment is really key for us to make an impact. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman: 

Todd, on the other hand, what are some of the greatest challenges you face in your space and why? 

Todd Perman: 

Double-edged sword question. I would tell you that the misinformation around health care and the lack of education is the key challenge. I'd say that most patients and most people that are treated are not educated around their health and around wellness and proactive care versus reactive care. I'd say when I talk and I'm presenting to what I would call very powerful, influential people, you'd be surprised at how little they know around how to be proactive about their health, how to catch disease early, how to actually treat and reverse it. And I'd say that the misinformation really creates the challenge for everyone out there. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman: 

Todd, I'd love to shift topics a bit and discuss ESG, which has been very timely the last several years, and wanted to see how you're addressing it. 

Todd Perman: 

Well, so from a health care perspective, I'll tell you there's a couple components. And our fund, we're actually a venture fund, is actually an impact fund. So, we measure the impact to people, and we follow the UN social determinants and impact criteria. And ultimately ESG it's you want lower emissions, you want all those things, but ultimately for us, our number one impact isn't the ESG component, it's actually driving towards people getting access, and we're driving at impacting people in a positive way and catching disease early. And then it's a people and profit type of thing, so we get to have the double bottom line. All of our portfolio companies are environmentally working in the right direction, and when they manufacture things, they're looking at that and how they actually impact the world from an ESG perspective. So, it's important to us too, but number one is save the people. That's the number one thing we're trying to do. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman: 

Todd, we've covered a lot of ground today and wanted to see if there are any final thoughts you would like to share with us. 

Todd Perman: 

Absolutely. I'd say that the number one thing that everybody should be proactive about is not waiting until they're sick to go to the doctor. Be proactive. Be proactive about your care. I invested in a longevity platform that is all about shifting from reactive to proactive care. And I'd just say that one change will save the American health care system if everybody was to do it, but everybody won't. But I would just urge everybody to do that. And then from our perspective, we are going to make an impact. And if anybody had interest in our fund, we'd be happy to share that. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman: 

Todd, I wanted to thank you so much for sharing your perspective with our listeners. 

Todd Perman: 

Glad to do it, Elana. Thank you for doing it. I really think it's important to get the word out about how to change health care. Thank you. 

Elana Margulies-Snyderman: 

And thank you for listening to the EisnerAmper podcast series. Visit eisneramper.com for more information on this and a host of other topics and join us for our next EisnerAmper podcast when we get down to business. 

 ^{Transcribed by Rev.com}