Good day. Healthier Capital, a firm composed of investors with experience across healthcare, has beaten its fundraising goal to close a $220 million first fund despite limited partners’ pullback from venture capital.

Menlo Park, Calif.-based Healthier incorporated in late 2023 and in 2024 began raising a healthcare-technology venture fund. Members of the team have previously worked in areas such as healthcare delivery, health insurance and venture capital. Amir Dan Rubin, the firm’s chief executive and founding managing partner, has a record that includes previously serving as executive vice president with Optum/UnitedHealth Group and as CEO of Stanford University’s health system.

Partner Gregor Kevrekian previously was vice president, head of corporate development for CVS Health; Partner Eric Epstein formerly was a partner with healthcare investor Santé Ventures; while Dr. Aman Mahajan, a partner, has had roles such as senior vice president, health innovation, for healthcare provider and health insurer UPMC.

U.S. venture firms raised $66 billion in 2025, a 35% drop from the prior year and a 70% decline from the record year in 2022, according to market tracker PitchBook Data. Much of the capital LPs committed went to established investors, not those raising first-time funds.

Healthcare venture capitalists fared no better. Through Dec. 10, U.S. medical investors raised $6.6 billion, down from $23 billion in all of 2024, according to Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank. The slide occurred as investors struggled to sell or take portfolio companies public.

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And now on to the news...

Bansk wraps up $1.4 billion fund for consumer-health business Arcadia. Private-equity investor Bansk Group raised $1.4 billion to support portfolio company Arcadia Consumer Healthcare, aiming to give the maker of over-the-counter medicines and supplements fuel for more acquisitions. Bansk, an investor in consumer brands, attracted a slate of asset managers to back the single-asset continuation fund, the New York firm’s first.

• Bansk senior partner Chris Kelly said the new capital will allow Arcadia, a Bridgewater, N.J.-based maker of medicines, vitamins and supplements, to make more acquisitions.
   
• Private-equity firms have in recent years increased their use of continuation funds, a type of vehicle that firms use to raise more money for one or more portfolio companies and to extend their holding period beyond the roughly five-year standard.

Drugmaker Novo Nordisk is running ads that play off Apple’s humorous early-aughts “Get a Mac” campaign to try to distinguish Ozempic from other GLP-1 drugs taken for Type 2 diabetes. The new ads reunite Justin Long, who embodied a hip Mac laptop in Apple’s commercials, with John Hodgman, who played a hapless PC. Long now stars as Ozempic, which he says has Food and Drug Administration approval for more indications than other GLP-1s when taken for Type 2 diabetes. Hodgman represents the other GLP-1s. The campaign comes as Novo Nordisk’s early grip on the market for GLP-1s has slipped following production challenges and mounting competition.

Geothermal company Zanskar has privately raised $115 million in its latest funding round to find and develop overlooked geothermal fields such as one in Nevada, concealed beneath an arid expanse of high desert. The land doesn’t vent steam, emit fumaroles, or boast hot springs. In other words, it has none of the telltale signs that companies have typically relied on as they have scoured the West for heat to turn into electrons. Zanskar said it can bypass finding these signatures altogether and unlock hidden troves of concentrated energy, as well as squeeze out more from known fields, all thanks to artificial intelligence.

People

Bessemer Venture Partners promoted Sofia Guerra to partner. She focuses on healthcare and life sciences investments at the firm.

OpenEvidence, a Miami-based AI-powered medical search engine used by doctors, closed a $250 million Series D round, valuing the company at $12 billion. Thrive Capital and DST Global co-led the investment.

Zarminali Pediatrics, a Chicago-based outpatient pediatric group providing integrated primary and specialty care, landed $110 million in Series A funding. Healthier Capital led the round, which included contributions from General Catalyst and K2 HealthVentures. Amir Dan Rubin of Healthier Capital will join the company’s board.

Exciva, a Germany-based startup developing novel therapies for behavioral symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s disease, raised EUR51 million (over $59 million) in Series B funding. EQT Life Sciences and Gimv co-led the round, which included participation from Fountain Healthcare Partners, Andera Partners and Modi Ventures. Philip Scheltens of EQT Life Sciences will join the board.

Think Bioscience, a Boulder, Colo.-based startup focused on unlocking elusive drug targets, snagged $55 million in Series A funding from investors including Innovation Endeavors.

AnswersNow, a Richmond, Va.-based virtual therapy provider for kids with autism, scored $40 million in Series B funding. HealthQuest Capital led the investment, which saw additional support from Left Lane Capital, Owl Ventures and others.

Benepass, a New York-based benefits capital management platform for employers, secured $40 million in Series B financing led by Centana Growth Partners.

Infinitopes, a U.K.-based cancer vaccine startup, added $15.4 million in seed funding, bringing the round total to $35.1 million. This latest investment was co-led by Octopus Ventures and Amplify Bio.

One to One Health, a Chattanooga, Tenn.-based provider of employer-sponsored onsite and virtual primary care services, grabbed a $12 million minority growth investment from Frist Cressey Ventures.

Science&Humans, a Canada-based hormone health platform, closed a 10 million Canadian dollar (about $7.2 million) Series A equity and debt round led by Pender Ventures.

PraxisPro, a learning experience platform for life sciences, completed a $6 million seed round led by AlleyCorp.

Claim Health, a New York-based startup powering AI-native revenue operations for post-acute care, was seeded with a $4.4 million investment led by Maverick Ventures.

• GSK to Acquire RAPT for $2.2 Billion to Bolster Food Allergy Treatments
   
• The Retirement Crisis No One Warns You About: Mattering
   
• Moderna, Merck Report Positive Results From Cancer-Vaccine Study
   
• Genesis Healthcare Approved for $1 Billion Bankruptcy Sale of Its Nursing Homes

• Will ‘psychiatry’s bible’ add a postpartum psychosis diagnosis? (New York Times)
   
• Crew-11 astronauts reflect on ISS medical evacuation and future of human space flight (Scientific American)
   
• Senior CDC official: loss of measles elimination status in U.S. would be ‘cost of doing business’ (STAT)
   
• Corvus shares nearly triple on positive data for eczema pill (BioPharma Dive)

This newsletter was compiled by Matthew Strozier, Zachary Cole and Brian Gormley. 

WSJ Pro Venture Capital is a premium service of The Wall Street Journal. We cover venture capital and the global startup ecosystem. Share your tips, comments and questions: vcnews@wsj.com

The Team: Matthew Strozier, Yuliya Chernova, and Brian Gormley.

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