London-based Eka Ventures raised £80 million ($108 million) to invest in tech founders working on preventive healthcare, sustainable consumption and better access to essential services.
Such founders “not only improve lives but ultimately benefit the economy long-term,” according to Mark Sims of the government-owned British Business Bank, which anchored the fund with £40 million. The other half of the capital came from other British LPs, including Better Society Capital, Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation, WRAP, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Health Foundation.
Tech enabled
Eka was founded in 2018 by Jon Coker, Camilla Dolan and Andrew Richardson, who combined their experience investing in consumer tech. The firm closed its first fund at £68 million in 2021, and sourced about half of its investments by developing an AI deal platform to find founders overlooked by other firms. The portfolio includes Runna, a running app bought by fitness tech company Strava last year, insurance tech firm Urban Jungle, and zero-emission parcel service Hived.
“Over the course of Fund I, my conviction has only strengthened,” Dolan wrote on LinkedIn. “Founders building for positive system change will create the companies that define how we live – from the food we eat, to the energy we consume, to how we stay fit and connect with others.”
Like its predecessor fund, Eka’s second fund will focus on early-stage ventures and write checks of up to $2 million each in about 30 companies.
The healthcare sector is a major area of focus for Eka because of a mismatch of spending in the UK, as elsewhere, on treatments versus preventative care. The UK spent a record £317 billion ($431 billion) on its aging healthcare system in 2024. Preventive care accounts for about 5% of public health spending.
Among the seven investments Eka has made from its second fund are women’s healthcare platform Hesta Health and menstrual health supplement maker Ditto Daily.
