News | Bertelsmann Investments | Gütersloh / New York, 01/29/2026

Bertelsmann Investments Establishes Fund for Investments in the transatlantic Healthcare Market

• New “Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments” fund has a transatlantic focus, with a presence in Europe and the U.S.
• Follows several years of successful healthcare investments and a first successful exit with the AI company Phare Health to U.S. market leader R1
• Carsten Coesfeld: “Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments is a central building block for the systematic expansion of our activities in the healthcare growth market.”

Gütersloh / New York, January 29, 2026 – Bertelsmann Investments (BI), the international venture capital arm of the media, services, and education company Bertelsmann, is consolidating its investment activities in the healthcare sector in a new, independent investment vehicle: Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments (BHI). Following years of successful investments in the global healthcare market, BI is establishing a dedicated fund structure to promote and scale entrepreneurial innovation in healthcare. The new BHI fund underscores Bertelsmann Investments’ long-term commitment to the healthcare growth market.

Bertelsmann Investments contributes decades of operational experience from the Bertelsmann Group’s Healthcare and Education divisions. This includes platforms such as Relias, Afya, Arvato Healthcare, BFS, and cormeo, which together already generates revenues of more than €1.5 billion in global healthcare markets. This strong foundation is strategically complemented by a financial return-driven venture capital portfolio. The goal is to further strengthen and expand Bertelsmann Investments’ existing venture capital ecosystem and sustainably promote entrepreneurship in the healthcare sector.

Carsten Coesfeld, CEO of Bertelsmann Investments, said: “The healthcare market is facing profound changes – technologically, structurally, and socially. Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments gives us a clearly positioned, long-term-oriented vehicle to support founders from an early stage and actively drive innovation in the healthcare market.”

Coesfeld added: “BHI is a central building block in the strategic development of our venture capital ecosystem and the expansion of our activities in the healthcare growth market. Our ambition goes far beyond providing capital: We actively empower entrepreneurship and support the sustainable build-up and international growth of leading healthcare companies.”

BHI invests in high-growth healthcare companies that develop and successfully scale technology-driven business models. The fund has a transatlantic focus, with a presence in Europe and the U.S., and targets founding teams with the ambition to build market-leading companies. In addition to flexible capital, portfolio companies benefit from deep healthcare expertise, entrepreneurial experience, and an international network.

Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments is led by Thorsten Wirkes (Managing Director) and Tim Schneider (Partner), who together bring many years of experience in the international healthcare market and in venture capital.

Thorsten Wirkes, Managing Director of BHI, said: “We believe that we are at the beginning of a new era - enabled by technological advancement via AI as well as a regulatory recognition that the frameworks need to be adopted, for example around interoperability, incentives, and how we pay for care. We are entering a massive transformation on how people will consume preventive and reactive care, how care is personalized, delivered and paid for, and how the underlying admin processes will operate.”

The launch of BHI builds on several years of successful investment activity in healthcare. The existing portfolio includes stakes in high-growth companies in Europe and the U.S.. In 2025, BHI, together with early-stage investor General Catalyst, also completed the sale of the AI company Phare Health, founded by former DeepMind AI researchers, to the U.S. market leader in revenue cycle management solutions, R1.

Tim Schneider, Partner at BHI, added: “If you asked our founders and partners, they would say that we have the right mix of deep expertise, strong networks to accelerate, and are good to work with in the way we collaborate being supportive, always available, as well as operationally involved when needed. And that’s something we are proud of. It’s our goal to empower entrepreneurs and help bend the odds in their favor.”

About Bertelsmann Investments
Bertelsmann Investments (BI) bundles Bertelsmann’s global venture capital activities as well as the growth unit Bertelsmann Next. The venture capital arm comprises the funds Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI), Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), and Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments, along with selected fund and direct investments, including in Europe, the U.S., Brazil, Southeast Asia, and Africa. The Bertelsmann Next division drives the entrepreneurial development of new growth industries and business fields, particularly in Mobile Ad Tech (AppLike), HR Tech (EMBRACE), and Pharma Tech (cormeo). Through Bertelsmann Investments’ fund network and Next activities, more than €2.0 billion has been invested to date in approximately 500 innovative companies and funds. Via its start-up and fund network, Bertelsmann Investments currently holds more than 350 active investments worldwide.
For more information, please visit: www.bertelsmann-investments.com 

About Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments
Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments (BHI) is an independent, financial-first transatlantic healthcare-focused investment firm. BHI is backed by Bertelsmann Investments, Bertelsmann's global investment arm with several billion in assets under management Headquartered in New York and with an European Office in Berlin, BHI partners with entrepreneurs from day one to early growth, supports its companies throughout their lifecycle and has the flexibility and long-term conviction to double or even triple down in the later stages. For European and Israeli founders, BHI is often the first point of contact in the U.S.

For more information, please visit: www.bhi.vc