Eight Roads’ four earlier China funds included a strong healthcare remit. The decision to establish a specialized fund reflects the size of the market opportunity in China. The new fund will concentrate on four investment areas: Therapeutics, Healthcare Services, Healthcare IT/Digital Health, and MedTec. 40 per cent of the fund’s allocation will be in therapeutics. A dedicated Eight Roads China technology fund is also in the pipeline.

The opportunity in China healthcare is being driven by an ageing population, increasing patient demands, the yet-to-improved healthcare payment system, and ambitious policy reforms supported by the Chinese Government. Eight Roads invests not only in existing companies but will continue to found new ventures to tackle unmet market demand, and intransigent health and delivery issues. Its patient capital approach is particularly well suited to the long development times for healthcare companies, especially in therapeutics.

Daniel Auerbach, Senior Managing Partner, Asia, said: “Eight Roads has backed innovative China healthcare companies since 1995. The launch of this specialized fund reflects our confidence in the evolution of the China market and forms part of a strategy to more precisely target our healthcare and technology expertise.

He continued: “The Eight Roads network constitutes one of the largest venture and early growth platforms in the world. The China Healthcare Fund takes its place as part of this powerful global ecosystem supported by a single investor and a 108-person strong investment team across China, India, Japan, Europe and the US. This ecosystem lends us capacity and scale, setting up powerful efficiencies, deep domain expertise, and the ability to trace trends and understanding across geographies.”