Key Takeaways
- • Family offices made 56 direct investments in companies in October 2026, up about 30% from September, according to data provided exclusively to CNBC by Fintrx, a private wealth intelligence platform.
- • Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective was the most prolific family office investor in October, backing three healthcare startups per Fintrx data.
- • Emerson Collective joined a $555 million Series G for Devoted Health, a Medicare Advantage provider and insurer, alongside the Azim Premji family office.
- • Melinda French Gates' Pivotal Ventures joined an $82 million Series C for Abby Care, an AI-enabled startup that trains and certifies family members as paid caregivers under Medicaid and Medicare.
- • Healthcare ranked as the second-most-popular direct investing sector for family offices at 32%, behind AI at 51%, in a Citi Wealth family office survey released in September.
Summary
Family offices of ultra-wealthy families stepped up their deal-making in October after a slow September. According to data provided exclusively to CNBC by Fintrx, a private wealth intelligence platform, family offices made 56 direct investments in companies last month, up about 30% from the prior month.
Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective was the most prolific investor of the month, backing three healthcare startups according to Fintrx. The firm, which addresses health equity and challenges such as the energy transition, joined a $555 million Series G for Devoted Health, a healthcare provider and insurer of Medicare Advantage plans, alongside the namesake family office of information technology billionaire Azim Premji. Devoted Health, an Emerson Collective investor since 2021, said it will use the funds to expand into five additional states, for a total of 34.
Emerson Collective also participated in two healthcare data fundraises. BioStack, which raised $9.5 million in seed funding, analyzes patient records across institutions to create training datasets for artificial intelligence healthcare models. Collective X Health, which recently closed a $3.2 million pre-seed round, aims to close the gender data gap by compiling and licensing peer-reviewed, female-specific data and research.
Healthcare remains a favored area for family offices. A Citi Wealth family office survey released in September found healthcare ranked as the second-most-popular sector for direct investing at 32%, behind AI at 51%.
Melinda French Gates' Pivotal Ventures joined an $82 million Series C for Abby Care, an AI-enabled startup that trains and certifies family members as paid caregivers under Medicaid and Medicare. Erin Harkless Moore, who manages investments at Pivotal, told CNBC the firm looks for founders with first-hand experience of healthcare's complexities. Abby Care CEO and founder Havi Nguyen began navigating the Medicaid system at age nine as a caregiver for her sisters and later her grandparents. Moore said Pivotal backs teams that understand the problem deeply and have models built for the existing healthcare system. On women's health, she said the area has been historically underfunded and under-researched, with less data and funding, which makes investing more challenging but may also point to real opportunity.
Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective was the most prolific investor of the month, backing three healthcare startups according to Fintrx. The firm, which addresses health equity and challenges such as the energy transition, joined a $555 million Series G for Devoted Health, a healthcare provider and insurer of Medicare Advantage plans, alongside the namesake family office of information technology billionaire Azim Premji. Devoted Health, an Emerson Collective investor since 2021, said it will use the funds to expand into five additional states, for a total of 34.
Emerson Collective also participated in two healthcare data fundraises. BioStack, which raised $9.5 million in seed funding, analyzes patient records across institutions to create training datasets for artificial intelligence healthcare models. Collective X Health, which recently closed a $3.2 million pre-seed round, aims to close the gender data gap by compiling and licensing peer-reviewed, female-specific data and research.
Healthcare remains a favored area for family offices. A Citi Wealth family office survey released in September found healthcare ranked as the second-most-popular sector for direct investing at 32%, behind AI at 51%.
Melinda French Gates' Pivotal Ventures joined an $82 million Series C for Abby Care, an AI-enabled startup that trains and certifies family members as paid caregivers under Medicaid and Medicare. Erin Harkless Moore, who manages investments at Pivotal, told CNBC the firm looks for founders with first-hand experience of healthcare's complexities. Abby Care CEO and founder Havi Nguyen began navigating the Medicaid system at age nine as a caregiver for her sisters and later her grandparents. Moore said Pivotal backs teams that understand the problem deeply and have models built for the existing healthcare system. On women's health, she said the area has been historically underfunded and under-researched, with less data and funding, which makes investing more challenging but may also point to real opportunity.
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