
Investments
119Portfolio Exits
26Funds
4Service Providers
1About The Blue Venture Fund
The Blue Venture Fund is a corporate venture fund program to which thirty-six BCBS entities have committed over $800 million across four Funds. The Funds invest in promising emerging companies of strategic relevance to Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield Plans and provide access to its portfolio to deploy innovation at scale. The Blue Venture Fund is sponsored by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies.

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Latest The Blue Venture Fund News
Sep 18, 2023
Sempre Health – a leading solution for behavior-based healthcare pricing – recently announced $20 million in additional funding from three new investors, including Cencora Ventures and Echo Health Ventures. And existing investors including the Blue Venture Fund, UPMC Enterprises and Industry Ventures also participated. This funding comes at an important time for the millions of Americans who struggle to afford their life-saving medications. Many people have benefited from Sempre programs, which drive a more than 20% improvement in adherence and Net Promoter Score of 95, a testament to the high level of satisfaction Sempre patients have with the company’s dynamic discount and SMS-based adherence solutions. Rather than tapping into traditional coupons and cash card programs, Sempre aligns multiple healthcare stakeholders to dynamically adjust a patient’s out-of-pocket costs at the point of dispense based on individual adherence and benefit design. With the new funding round, Sempre will accelerate growth of its two-sided network of pharma manufacturers and health plans, launch products for new populations, and significantly grow the number of patients helped by the unique solution. Cencora Ventures, formerly known as AB Health Ventures (the corporate venture fund of Cencora) understands the importance of medication adherence in driving healthcare outcomes and believes Sempre’s differentiated solution can drive meaningful impact. Echo Health Ventures is a purpose-driven strategic VC and growth equity firm focused on accelerating transformational healthcare innovation on a national scale. And Echo invests to grow great healthcare companies by building strong relationships between enterprises and innovators to meet the needs of tomorrow’s healthcare consumers in an economically sustainable way. The participation of existing investors – including Blue Venture Fund, UPMC Enterprises, and Industry Ventures – further demonstrates their continued confidence in Sempre Health’s mission and growth trajectory. KEY QUOTES: “Cencora is committed to advancing innovative solutions that better enable medication access and affordability in support of patient health. Sempre’s unique business model has the ability to evolve traditional market access approaches for life sciences companies and drive substantial improvement in medication adherence.” – Leslie Donato, EVP, Chief Strategy Officer at Cencora “Echo Health Ventures invests in companies that address the complexity of healthcare head-on and deliver better health and member experiences while reducing overall costs. We look forward to partnering with Sempre to support their work to align healthcare stakeholders to improve patient health and deliver better outcomes.” – Jose Guerola, Principal at Echo Health Ventures “Since our founding, we’ve remained focused on helping people afford and take their medications as prescribed. We are excited to work with investors representing every major stakeholder in the pharmaceutical value chain, who recognize the significance of Sempre’s approach and are committed to fundamentally changing how medications are accessed in the United States.” – Anurati Mathur, CEO of Sempre Health “Echo Health Ventures invests in companies that address the complexity of healthcare head-on and deliver better health and member experiences while reducing overall costs. We look forward to partnering with Sempre to support their work to align healthcare stakeholders to improve patient health and deliver better outcomes.” – Jose Guerola, Principal at Echo Health Ventures Trending on Pulse 2.0
The Blue Venture Fund Investments
119 Investments
The Blue Venture Fund has made 119 investments. Their latest investment was in Sempre Health as part of their Series C on September 9, 2023.

The Blue Venture Fund Investments Activity

Date | Round | Company | Amount | New? | Co-Investors | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9/13/2023 | Series C | Sempre Health | $20M | No | 2 | |
7/26/2023 | Series B - III | Octave Bioscience | $30M | No | 1 | |
5/19/2023 | Seed VC | PicassoMD | Yes | 1 | ||
5/11/2023 | Unattributed VC - II | |||||
3/23/2023 | Seed VC |
Date | 9/13/2023 | 7/26/2023 | 5/19/2023 | 5/11/2023 | 3/23/2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Round | Series C | Series B - III | Seed VC | Unattributed VC - II | Seed VC |
Company | Sempre Health | Octave Bioscience | PicassoMD | ||
Amount | $20M | $30M | |||
New? | No | No | Yes | ||
Co-Investors | |||||
Sources | 2 | 1 | 1 |
The Blue Venture Fund Portfolio Exits
26 Portfolio Exits
The Blue Venture Fund has 26 portfolio exits. Their latest portfolio exit was Picwell on January 09, 2023.
Date | Exit | Companies | Valuation Valuations are submitted by companies, mined from state filings or news, provided by VentureSource, or based on a comparables valuation model. | Acquirer | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1/9/2023 | Acquired | 2 | |||
5/9/2022 | Acq - Fin | 1 | |||
4/28/2022 | Acquired | 1 | |||
Date | 1/9/2023 | 5/9/2022 | 4/28/2022 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Exit | Acquired | Acq - Fin | Acquired | ||
Companies | |||||
Valuation | |||||
Acquirer | |||||
Sources | 2 | 1 | 1 |
The Blue Venture Fund Fund History
4 Fund Histories
The Blue Venture Fund has 4 funds, including BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners III.
Closing Date | Fund | Fund Type | Status | Amount | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
5/25/2017 | BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners III | $10M | 4 | ||
8/30/2013 | BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners II | ||||
7/9/2008 | BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners | ||||
BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners IV |
Closing Date | 5/25/2017 | 8/30/2013 | 7/9/2008 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fund | BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners III | BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners II | BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners | BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners IV |
Fund Type | ||||
Status | ||||
Amount | $10M | |||
Sources | 4 |
The Blue Venture Fund Service Providers
1 Service Provider
The Blue Venture Fund has 1 service provider relationship
Service Provider | Associated Rounds | Provider Type | Service Type |
---|---|---|---|
Sandbox Industries | Series A | Other | Financial Advisor |
Service Provider | Sandbox Industries |
---|---|
Associated Rounds | Series A |
Provider Type | Other |
Service Type | Financial Advisor |
Partnership data by VentureSource
The Blue Venture Fund Team
5 Team Members
The Blue Venture Fund has 5 team members, including current President, Managing Director, General Partner, John Edwards Banta.
Name | Work History | Title | Status |
---|---|---|---|
John Edwards Banta | IllinoisVENTURES, Digitalwork, UBS, and Bear Stearns | President, Managing Director, General Partner | Current |
Name | John Edwards Banta | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Work History | IllinoisVENTURES, Digitalwork, UBS, and Bear Stearns | ||||
Title | President, Managing Director, General Partner | ||||
Status | Current |