- Ascension Fund III Launch Event
- Ascension Fund III Thesis
- Ascension S/EIS Fund 2023-24 Overview
- Meet David Joerring, Founder and CEO of HealthKey
- Portfolio News
- Open Job Roles
Ascension Fund III launch
A huge thank you to everyone who attended our Ascension Fund III Launch event! It was truly inspiring to be surrounded by such innovative minds and passionate changemakers.
Special thanks goes to CMS for hosting us and to our exceptional speakers:
➡ Aditi, Vice President of Growth Marketing at Bulbshare
➡ Emily Trant, Chief Impact Officer at Wagestream
➡ Polly Gilbert, CMO at Tembo
➡ Tom Newton, CMO at Believe in Science
➡ Ben Towers, Co-founder and CEO at Happl
Each contributed invaluable insights and compelling stories, highlighting the profound impact that thoughtful leadership and innovation can have across various industries.
Ascension Fund III thesis
Our fund aims to support technology solutions poised to become “impact dragons” — ventures that not only promise substantial returns but also meaningfully improve lives in lower-income communities by:
- Generating economic opportunities
- Addressing the cost of living crisis
- Enhancing health outcomes
We believe in nurturing businesses that adopt a distribution, pricing, and brand strategy effectively tailored to these communities. Read about our first fund investment here.
Ascension S/EIS Fund 2023-24 Overview
Our Ascension 2023-24 S/EIS Fund is fully deployed. We are proud to have invested in 10 innovative companies. Read this article to learn more about what drove our investments behind a few of our portfolio companies.
The Ascension S/EIS Fund 2024-25 is still open for investment – read the flyer here to learn more.
Meet David Joerring, Founder and CEO of HealthKey
HealthKey is our latest investment from the Ascension S/EIS Fund. We are very excited to have backed an innovative business, and we reached out to the founder, David Joerring, to delve into his motivations and the inspiring vision behind HealthKey.
What was your motivation for starting HealthKey?
“For me the motivation is simply to build something new from the ground up. I have always loved working on new and challenging problems and find great satisfaction in seeing ideas go from being on a whiteboard or napkin and evolving into products that people use. Another large part of the motivation comes from the problem space. Having worked in and around healthcare for a significant part of my career, I had seen how great innovative health products were being built, particularly in preventive and proactive health, and how payers were increasingly interested in paying for such products and services. But payers and providers weren’t collaborating effectively, essentially an ineffective market, and it’s people who lose out, by not getting access to the best possible health products. I’m in love with the idea that, by creating a more effective infrastructure, we could help people live healthier lives.”
What does success look like for HealthKey?
“The long term vision is two-fold. Firstly, make it easier for people to access healthcare. It should be at least as easy to get access to health services as it is to buy a new pair of shoes online or any other e-commerce purchase. This particularly involves making the necessary information readily available, and making the payment process for healthcare user-centric. Secondly to work with health payers and providers to power the shift to a more preventive and proactive approach to healthcare. This means being able to prove the ROI of preventive and proactive measures through our integration with both sides. At the moment, it seems that the case for prevention is broadly accepted from a “common sense” perspective, but to really drive action requires more hard data on return on investment.”
Do you have any tips for founders who are raising at the moment?
“Be super clear and honest with both yourself and investors on how much you need, why you need it, and what milestones that will help you unlock. That means not trying to raise more than needed, and not trying to benchmark your way to what a round should look like or listening too much to advice from people who don’t know the business.”
What three things would you take on a desert island?
- My wife
- A kindle filled with books. I can be happy as long as I have something to read
- Probably something that would help me get off the island
What three things would you take on a desert island?
- My wife
- A kindle filled with books. I can be happy as long as I have something to read
- Probably something that would help me get off the island
Portfolio News
- Qureight closes $8.5m Series A
- Congratulations to Tembo and Switchee for being listed as one of the fastest growing startups by Sifted
- Abbie Morris from Compare Ethics discussing greenwashing on BBC News
- SteadPay announces partnership with Aluna Partners to improve the accessibility of affordable lending
- Wagestream raise £17.5 funding boost
- Nebuflow secured an additional £4.7 million in funding
- Anathem was included in the sifted “19 AI healthtechs to watch, according to VCs”
Roles in Portfolio Companies
- Better Nature is looking for a Marketing Executive
- Happl is hiring a Sales Development Representative and an Insurance Broker
- Qureight has a variety of open roles, from Chief Financial Officer to Head of Clinical Data