Santé Ventures is an early-stage healthcare venture firm founded in Austin, Texas in 2006 by Kevin Lalande, Joe Cunningham and Douglas French. The firm invests across three connected domains, biotechnology, medical technology and digitally enabled healthcare, and frequently backs companies at or near formation rather than waiting for later rounds. It is part of Santé, a broader investment organization that also runs Santé Capital, a systematic public-markets strategy, with more than $1 billion in capital under management across the platform. Santé Ventures has launched five venture funds, in 2007, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2024, and closed its fifth fund at $330 million in February 2026, above its $300 million target, promoting Dennis McWilliams and Omar Khalil to Managing Director at the close. The portfolio deliberately takes device and biology risk that larger generalist funds avoid, and its realized exits are mostly strategic acquisitions. Farapulse went to Boston Scientific in 2021, Laminar to Johnson and Johnson MedTech for $400 million upfront in 2023, and earlier companies including Explorys, Claret Medical, Millipede Medical, TVA Medical and AbVitro were bought by IBM, Boston Scientific, Becton Dickinson and Bristol Myers Squibb respectively. The firm also keeps an office in Boston.
Farapulse, the pulsed field ablation company Santé backed early, was fully acquired by Boston Scientific in 2021 after the strategic exercised its option for $295 million upfront.