At the beginning of the year, I spoke to Bill Taranto, president of the MSD Global Health Innovation Fund about what he expected over the course of the year in the healthcare space.

He had predicted that M&As would make a moderate comeback and more liquidity would be coming into the market from private equity firms, and that we would see a wave of consolidations taking shape as smaller “point solutions” get integrated into larger platforms.

I wanted to invite him back on the show to take a look back at the year and see how things have played out, and how they’ve compared to his expectations. Looking back on it now, M&A and liquidity has started coming back, but not quite to the extent that he had thought it would, with the PE firms being a bit more conservative than anticipated. Consolidations have also started to creep back, but again, not quite as much as expected.

We also talk about how CVCs have really been stepping up to the plate during this rough phase, the topic of a recent op-ed he wrote for GCV. Their connections to the corporate knowhow and networks have given CVCs a huge advantage over financial VCs. Unlike in the past, when CVCs were somewhat overlooked, CVCs are now on equal footing with VCs both to startups and to co-investors, he argues, but they can bring more than just the money. They used to be a “nice to have”, now they’re a “need to have”.

We also touch on best practices to develop strong investment syndicates, how people need to be patient with the implementation of AI, and how despite healthcare being a political football that gets tossed around every US election, investment in the technology itself will always be needed.

M&A and liquidity making a slower comeback in healthcare, but CVCs are stepping up to the plate

The CVC Unplugged podcast is a weekly show that brings you fascinating and wide-ranging conversations with leading corporate venture capital investors, subject matter experts, startup founders, journalists and other market participants to keep you informed of the most important trends affecting early-stage investing.

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