When you look at the landscape of health care investing, there’s usually a pretty thick wall between the "suits" in Silicon Valley and the policy wonks in D.C. But then you have Bessemer Venture Partners Slavitt—or rather, the ongoing, high-stakes collaboration between one of the world's oldest venture firms and the man who basically ran the American healthcare system under two different presidents.
Andy Slavitt isn’t just some guy with a nice resume. He's the guy the government calls when the website crashes or the pandemic hits. And for Bessemer Venture Partners, he’s become a sort of North Star for how to invest in things that actually matter.
Honestly, it's a weird pairing if you think about it. Bessemer is the firm that funded LinkedIn, Shopify, and Pinterest. They’re the elite of the elite. Slavitt, on the other hand, spends his time talking about Medicaid, underserved communities, and how to fix the "Peloton crowd" bias in tech. But it works. It works because they both realized that the biggest problems in healthcare aren't going to be solved by another fitness app. They’re going to be solved in the messy, bureaucratic trenches of government policy and value-based care.
Why the Bessemer and Slavitt Connection Actually Matters
If you're searching for "Bessemer Venture Partners Slavitt," you're probably trying to figure out if he works there. He doesn't. Not exactly. Slavitt is a General Partner at Town Hall Ventures, but his relationship with Bessemer—specifically with Steve Kraus, who leads Bessemer’s healthcare practice—is one of the most influential "friendships" in the industry.
They talk. A lot.
They’ve done podcasts together, like the Wish I Knew series and A Healthy Dose. They share deal flow. They look at the same messy problems. When Bessemer wants to know if a startup can survive a change in CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) regulations, they don't just guess. They look to the insights of people like Slavitt who have actually written those regulations.
The healthcare market is basically a $4 trillion beast. Most VCs are terrified of it because one stroke of a pen in Washington can kill a billion-dollar company overnight. That’s why the Bessemer Venture Partners Slavitt connection is so vital. It’s about bridging the gap between "Can we build this technology?" and "Will the government actually pay for this?"
👉 See also: Disney Stock: What the Numbers Really Mean for Your Portfolio
The "Outsider’s Insider" Strategy
Slavitt likes to call himself the "outsider’s insider." He’s been the EVP of Optum at UnitedHealth, he’s been the Acting Administrator of CMS, and he was Biden’s Senior Advisor for the COVID-19 response. He knows where the bodies are buried.
When he sits down with Bessemer, the conversation usually shifts away from "AI for the sake of AI" and toward what he calls "fixing what’s broken."
Take a look at the types of companies they both get excited about:
- Cityblock Health: Focusing on the most complex, low-income patients.
- Oak Street Health: Reimagining primary care for seniors.
- Main Street Health: Bringing value-based care to rural America.
These aren't "sexy" startups in the traditional sense. They don't have sleek offices in Palo Alto with kombucha on tap. They have clinics in strip malls and community centers. But because of the expertise shared between Town Hall and Bessemer, these companies have become some of the most successful "unicorns" in the space.
The Bessemer Venture Partners Philosophy on Health Tech
Bessemer isn't just throwing money at the wall. They have a very specific "roadmap" for healthcare. Steve Kraus and the team at Bessemer believe that we are moving away from "fee-for-service" (where doctors get paid for every test they run) toward "value-based care" (where they get paid for keeping you healthy).
This is a massive shift. It's like turning a cargo ship in a bathtub.
✨ Don't miss: 1 US Dollar to 1 Canadian: Why Parity is a Rare Beast in the Currency Markets
And this is where the Bessemer Venture Partners Slavitt dynamic really shines. Slavitt’s whole career has been about pushing this transition. He’s the one who helped implement the Affordable Care Act. He’s the one who fought to keep it alive when it was on the chopping block.
When Bessemer evaluates a new startup, they’re looking through a lens that Slavitt helped polish. Is this company actually lowering the cost of care? Are they improving outcomes for the people who need it most? Or are they just another middleman skimming off the top?
What Most People Get Wrong About This Relationship
A lot of people think this is just about political "juice." They think Bessemer wants Slavitt around so they can get favors from the White House.
That’s basically nonsense.
In reality, it’s about risk mitigation. Healthcare is the most regulated industry in the world. If you don't understand the policy, you're flying blind. Slavitt provides the "radar." He helps investors understand not just what the rules are today, but where they are going in five years.
Honestly, the most valuable thing Slavitt brings to the table isn't his contact list—it’s his skepticism. He’s seen a thousand "disruptive" ideas fail because they didn't account for how doctors actually work or how Medicare actually pays.
🔗 Read more: Will the US ever pay off its debt? The blunt reality of a 34 trillion dollar problem
Actionable Insights for Healthcare Founders
If you’re a founder looking to get the attention of Bessemer Venture Partners or someone like Andy Slavitt, you need to stop talking about your "proprietary algorithm" for five minutes and focus on the plumbing.
- Solve for the "Un-sexy": Don't build another mental health app for worried well-to-do millennials. Build a platform that helps Medicaid patients in rural Ohio get to their appointments.
- Understand the Payer: If you can't explain exactly how a Medicare Advantage plan or a state Medicaid office saves money by using your product, you don't have a business. You have a hobby.
- Focus on Vulnerable Populations: This is Slavitt’s bread and butter. The "Peloton crowd" is a tiny sliver of the market. The real money—and the real impact—is in the 90 million people on Medicaid.
- Policy is Product: In healthcare, the law is literally part of your product's code. You need to be as obsessed with CMS rulings as you are with your user interface.
What’s Next for the Bessemer-Slavitt Ecosystem?
We’re entering a weird new era. AI is everywhere, but in healthcare, it’s still mostly hype. The real work is happening in the background—standardizing data, automating the soul-crushing paperwork that makes doctors want to quit, and finally, finally making it so your medical records can actually follow you from one hospital to another.
The partnership between Bessemer Venture Partners Slavitt and the broader network of "policy-informed investors" is going to be what decides which of these technologies actually stick.
It’s not just about the capital anymore. There’s plenty of money sloshing around. It’s about the "adult in the room" perspective. It's about knowing that you can't "move fast and break things" when "things" are human lives.
If you want to track where the smart money is going in healthcare, don't just look at the funding announcements. Look at the intersection of policy and profit. Look at where the veterans of the ACA are hanging out with the titans of Sand Hill Road. That’s where the actual future of American medicine is being built, one strip-mall clinic at a time.
Next Steps for You:
If you're serious about understanding this space, your next move is to look up the "Bessemer Healthcare Roadmap." It’s a public document that lays out exactly how they view the world. Pair that with a few episodes of Slavitt's In the Bubble podcast, and you'll have a better education in healthcare venture capital than most MBA programs can give you. Study the portfolio companies shared by both Town Hall Ventures and Bessemer—like Cityblock—to see the "Value-Based Care" playbook in actual, living color.