Key Takeaways
- • Clalit Health Services and Schneider Children's Medical Center announced a $50 million venture fund, Schneider Children's Venture Capital (SCVC), for pediatric health, according to eJewishPhilanthropy.
- • The fund has raised $20 million from private and institutional investors to date, with plans to raise the remainder, per managing partner Ronen Gadot.
- • A third of the interest generated by the fund will go to Clalit and Schneider for research, and the fund is working with donor-advised funds to allow charitable investment.
- • SCVC has screened more than 170 companies and made three investments, including Cellergy Therapeutics, Noumena AI, and an unnamed autism blood-test developer.
- • The fund's structure ties the hospital's research budget to fund returns, and it gives startups access to Clalit's roughly 30 years of digital patient records.
Summary
Clalit Health Services, Israel's largest HMO, and its Schneider Children's Medical Center announced a $50 million venture fund earlier this week. According to eJewishPhilanthropy, a third of the interest the fund generates will return to Clalit and Schneider to support research. The fund is also working with donor-advised funds so that charitable donors can invest, and potentially grow, their contributions.
Schneider Children's Venture Capital (SCVC) spent eight months in stealth mode quietly recruiting initial investors before its public debut. The fund has raised $20 million from private and institutional investors so far, with plans to raise the balance, managing partner Ronen Gadot told eJP. Gadot said the structure addresses a funding gap that philanthropy alone cannot close: "Philanthropy is great, but it's not sufficient to cross the chasm between research and clinical use." SCVC operates as a for-profit fund with a social mission.
The launch comes as Israel's medical sector attracts new venture activity following the October 7 attacks and the three years of war that followed. The country faces a large number of injuries and permanent disabilities, as well as cuts in state funding tied to the war effort. Last month, a mental health-focused fund, Alma Ventures, launched in connection with Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv.
SCVC's model gives startups the ability to test products inside Schneider's clinics before the fund commits capital. After investing, the fund provides strategy and commercialization coaching. Clalit also opens its medical database to portfolio companies, which Gadot described as roughly 30 years of digital records tracking patients from birth to death, and the fund pairs this data with AI tools it is developing. The fund has screened more than 170 companies and made three investments: Cellergy Therapeutics, which seeks to mass-produce healthy mitochondria and plans its first human trial at Schneider in 2027; Noumena AI, which analyzes hospital data without moving it; and an unnamed company developing a blood test for early autism detection.
Gadot noted that children make up roughly 30% of Israel's population yet draw only a sliver of venture capital, and estimated that 60% to 75% of treatments Israeli children receive are used off-label and have never been tested on children. Efrat Bron-Harlev, director of the Clalit-Schneider Children's Medical Center, said the institution must also consider future medicine needs. Shirley Saar, director of Schneider's innovation center, framed the fund as a bet on prevention.
Schneider Children's Venture Capital (SCVC) spent eight months in stealth mode quietly recruiting initial investors before its public debut. The fund has raised $20 million from private and institutional investors so far, with plans to raise the balance, managing partner Ronen Gadot told eJP. Gadot said the structure addresses a funding gap that philanthropy alone cannot close: "Philanthropy is great, but it's not sufficient to cross the chasm between research and clinical use." SCVC operates as a for-profit fund with a social mission.
The launch comes as Israel's medical sector attracts new venture activity following the October 7 attacks and the three years of war that followed. The country faces a large number of injuries and permanent disabilities, as well as cuts in state funding tied to the war effort. Last month, a mental health-focused fund, Alma Ventures, launched in connection with Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv.
SCVC's model gives startups the ability to test products inside Schneider's clinics before the fund commits capital. After investing, the fund provides strategy and commercialization coaching. Clalit also opens its medical database to portfolio companies, which Gadot described as roughly 30 years of digital records tracking patients from birth to death, and the fund pairs this data with AI tools it is developing. The fund has screened more than 170 companies and made three investments: Cellergy Therapeutics, which seeks to mass-produce healthy mitochondria and plans its first human trial at Schneider in 2027; Noumena AI, which analyzes hospital data without moving it; and an unnamed company developing a blood test for early autism detection.
Gadot noted that children make up roughly 30% of Israel's population yet draw only a sliver of venture capital, and estimated that 60% to 75% of treatments Israeli children receive are used off-label and have never been tested on children. Efrat Bron-Harlev, director of the Clalit-Schneider Children's Medical Center, said the institution must also consider future medicine needs. Shirley Saar, director of Schneider's innovation center, framed the fund as a bet on prevention.
Go deeper than the headline
Research every firm in this story, track the ones that matter and get the daily briefing — free for 7 days.