Announcing a major health boost for Octopus Ventures

Octopus Ventures is delighted to announce the addition of a new team from TenX Health – Joe Stringer, Dr Pooja Sikka and Shamik Parekh. Their arrival will build on our existing investment capability and accelerate our ability to fuel the health tech revolution, ensuring Octopus remains at the forefront of what has become the hottest investment sector in the world.

The opportunity to transform public healthcare systems across Europe and emerging markets is growing exponentially. Even before Covid, health technology was one of the fastest growing investment sectors but this pace has more than doubled as a result of the pandemic. As the rollout of the Covid vaccine commences, governments, healthcare providers and insurers around the world have recognised the vital role that technology and remote working can play in diagnosing and delivering safe and high quality care, regardless of how it is funded.  

As their biographies show, the team brings a wealth of operational healthcare experience and sector investment knowledge, as well as years of active participation and leadership in NHS health policy, strategy and implementation. Their grass roots medical practice creates a rare combination that will further differentiate Octopus Ventures. Beyond the UK and Europe, they are also deeply connected to emerging markets, particularly India and the Middle East. Joe and Pooja were founding members of EY Ventures, leading the health and social care portfolio, spinning out in 2019 to establish the TenX Health fund. The team is well known in the health industry for founding and scaling a number of successful businesses.

Introductions

Joe Stringer

Joe has over 23 years of experience in healthcare, covering technology deployment, management consulting, founding two successful businesses in the sector and subsequently five years of investing. With a lifelong passion for healthcare and technology, Joe launched TenX Health on the back of leading Google Health in the UK and the Ventures and Healthcare practices for EY in the UK. At EY, he was the global healthcare supply chain leader, ran a UK team of 120 healthcare specialists and founded and jointly led three technology businesses in the UK NHS. Joe has led some of the most significant and high profile transformation programmes in UK healthcare – for example a four year / £14bn programme to transform the NHS supply chain. Joe is a Board Trustee of the Royal Society of Public Health.

Dr Pooja Sikka

A practising GP by background, Pooja has over 16 years experience working across the healthcare sector with public and private bodies and NHS providers, leading multiple teams through high profile national and international projects and ventures. Pooja’s diverse clinical, managerial and entrepreneurial background has put her at the forefront of the changing healthcare landscape in Europe and emerging economies. She is known in the NHS for her health tech expertise and most recently set up a national programme for the NAPC (National Association of Primary Care), to help NHS providers select and roll out health tech products and services. She serves as a council member and clinical advisor to NAPC and, as a founding member of the EY Ventures team, ran the health and social care investment portfolio. Pooja has founded healthcare businesses, launching ‘NHS-style’ primary and cancer care in India, for which she remains a clinical and health tech advisor, as well as a UK-based health business delivering clinical services which exited in 2016.

Shamik Parekh

Shamik has been with the Octopus TenX Health Fund since its inception and is one of the founding members. Prior to joining, Shamik worked at the National Association of Primary Care and helped roll out its Digital Programme, which continues to serve as an accelerator and scale up for UK and European health tech companies. He also brings relevant experience from Cerracap Ventures, a leading midsize venture capital fund based in California, where he was involved across a number of VC activities ranging from deal sourcing, due diligence, market deep dives, creating investment theses for new investments and fundraising support. 

Shamik began his professional career at a boutique hedge fund where he was involved in managing, financing, and developing commodity supply chains as well as supporting artisanal mining programmes in Bolivia, Turkey & Papua New Guinea.  

Shamik holds an MSc Finance & Management degree from the University of Exeter and completed his thesis on Private Equity Buy & Build strategies.

Welcome

As we enter 2021, we can’t think of a more positive start than welcoming Pooja, Joe and Shamik to Octopus Ventures. Our ability to invest in the very best pioneers in the health sector is now exactly where it needs to be to fuel the health tech revolution.