Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Cleveland Clinic and Khosla Ventures:

Cleveland Clinic and Khosla Ventures have announced a strategic collaboration that connects the international health system with one of Silicon Valley’s leading investors in healthcare and technology. The new relationship combines the organizations’ unique strengths, aiming to reimagine healthcare delivery and create solutions that address some of the most pressing challenges in the field.

As part of the collaboration, Khosla Ventures portfolio companies can work with Cleveland Clinic providers to showcase and test new technologies at all stages — from clinical validation to commercial adoption. This access gives startups a distinct advantage to demonstrate value directly with clinicians, accelerating the journey from early, bold ideas to proven, scalable solutions.

For Cleveland Clinic, the collaboration provides a direct pipeline to emerging technologies in areas such as artificial intelligence, digital health, and next-generation therapeutics.

“Khosla Ventures invests in early, bold, and impactful ideas that help people get healthy, stay healthy, and live longer,” said Hal Paz, MD, Operating Partner at Khosla Ventures and former Chief Executive Officer of multiple large-scale health systems. “AI (artificial intelligence) is the most transformative technology of our lifetime, and its impact on healthcare will be massive. This relationship with Cleveland Clinic — one of the most respected health institutions in the world — gives our companies an advantage to validate and scale their innovations.”

Saas Capital:

SaaS Capital, the leading provider of growth debt for recurring-revenue software businesses, has announced the closing of SaaS Capital Fund V, LP, totaling $100 million. The new fund enables SaaS Capital to expand its support for “Subscription AI (artificial intelligence) and Software” (Software-as-a-Service) businesses with non-dilutive, flexible capital.

“Founder-friendly, flexible growth debt has helped hundreds of recurring-revenue companies scale efficiently while preserving control,” said Rob Belcher, Managing Director at SaaS Capital. “With Fund V, we can now support an important next wave: subscription AI application companies building durable, recurring revenue technology businesses alongside traditional SaaS. Our goal is to provide committed, right-sized facilities that adapt to growth, reduce financing friction, and lower the overall cost of capital.”

Fund V will continue SaaS Capital’s strategy of providing committed, multi-year growth debt facilities to companies with meaningful recurring revenue, enabling investments in sales and marketing, product development, acquisitions, and working capital. The firm will maintain its focus on business-to-business (B2B) companies with at least $3 million in annualized recurring subscription revenue, whether they are bootstrapped independents or backed by equity investors.

Goldman Sachs:

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Industry Ventures, a leading venture capital platform that invests across all stages of the venture capital lifecycle.

Industry Ventures currently manages $7 billion of assets under supervision and has made more than 1,000 secondary and primary investments since the company’s founding in 2000. Industry Ventures calculates its realized performance across its platform as an attractive net Internal Rate of Return of 18 percent and net realized MOIC of 2.2X since its inception.

“Industry Ventures pioneered venture secondary investing and early-stage hybrid funds, areas that are rapidly expanding as companies stay private longer and investors seek new forms of liquidity,”said David Solomon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs.“Industry Ventures’ trusted relationships and venture capital expertise complement our existing investing franchises and expand opportunities for clients to access the fastest growing companies and sectors in the world.”

Industry Ventures has pioneered various segments of the venture capital market, including offering secondary liquidity solutions, seeding emerging venture capital funds, coinvesting directly in early-stage high-growth businesses using pro-rata rights, and also investing at the intersection of venture capital and tech buyout. The firm has one of the largest portfolios of venture capital partnerships from the seed stage to late-stage growth stage in the United States, representing investments in over 800 venture capital and technology-focused funds, and works with over 325 venture capital firms as a value-added limited partner, liquidity solutions provider, and co-investment partner. 

Town Hall Ventures:

Town Hall Ventures has announced that it is beginning the investment program for its fourth fund, with approximately $440 million of capital commitments. The new fund will further the firm’s vision of leveraging the power of AI and other innovations to transform healthcare delivery for underserved communities in the U.S..

Since its founding in 2018, Town Hall Ventures has invested in 42 companies across launch, venture, and growth stages. This portfolio now reaches across 1 in 5 Americans, bringing the latest innovations and most comprehensive care models to individuals and communities often left behind by the healthcare system. Town Hall and its network of partners will deploy Fund IV to help healthcare companies bring new technologies to the communities facing the biggest roadblocks to care first.

“With Fund IV, we will accelerate our mission by backing founders and technologists who are using AI as a core capability to lower costs, improve outcomes, and expand access to high-quality care for tens of millions of people underserved by the healthcare system,” said Meera Mani, MD, PhD, General Partner of Town Hall Ventures.

Burnt Island Ventures:

Burnt Island Ventures, the world’s leading venture capital firm dedicated exclusively to funding early-stage water innovation, has announced the closing of its second fund with $50 million committed to invest in critical technologies in the $1.6 trillion water market that underpins roughly 60 percent of global Gross Domestic Product, according to a World Wide Fund for Nature report.

Founded by water industry veteran Tom Ferguson, Burnt Island Ventures launched in 2020 to fill the chronic funding gap in water innovation despite the sector’s massive market size and grwing demand for new technologies. The firm’s debut $30 million Fund I is fully deployed across 18 companies, with two exits to date, strong portfolio growth, and top-decile performance. Burnt Island Ventures has backed companies like Daupler, Flocean, Subeca, Floodbase, and SewerAI that are solving some of the most valuable challenges in everything from smart metering to deepwater desalination.

“The global water sector is a trillion-dollar industry hiding in plain sight,” said Ferguson, the firm’s Founder and Managing Partner. “Fund II allows us to double down on our mission of finding, funding, and scaling the most ambitious founders who are solving water’s most pressing challenges, as well as giving them the sector-specific expertise and network they can’t get anywhere else.”

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