IMPACTASSETS 50™
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
ImpactAssets 50
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
SteelSky Ventures
Demographic-based Impact
Health and WellbeingFirm Overview
SteelSky Ventures is a catalyst for equity and change. We invest with a higher-order purpose, which is aligned with both creating positive shareholder return, and progressing the state of women's healthcare by improving access, care, and health outcomes. We are changemakers, pioneering a new frontier in women's heath, funding the overlooked, elevating the stigmatized, and investing in a better and healthier future for women around the world.
Years of Operation: Less than 3 years
% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: Less than 25%
SteelSky Ventures invests in companies that improve access, care, and outcomes in women's health.
SteelSky Ventures invests in companies that create better access, care, and outcomes in women's healthcare. Our innovative approach allows investment across the spectrum of women's health indications and in technology infrastructure that supports new and innovative care delivery models impacting and improving women's health, preventing unnecessary surgeries and procedures, lowering medical costs for patients, providers, and payors, and significantly improving health outcomes in historically underserved populations.
At SteelSky, we have built an active ecosystem of investors, advisors, and portfolio companies that work together to scale with intention and shape the future of women’s health. Our SteelSky Scale program provides portfolio companies with sustained support, bringing to bear the resources, advice, and social capital founders seek to scale their businesses exponentially. Through the program, we onboard new portfolio companies to explore their short- and long-term goals; offer insights via our broad and deep network of advisors, champions, and key opinion leaders across industries; provide strategic guidance on brand strategy, operations, business models, and special projects; and support fundraising and business development by leveraging connections and expertise. As a result, we have developed a reputation for value-added partnerships.
Investment Example
Mae is a culturally competent care marketplace, with a focus on complex maternal care management, initially matching expectant mothers with doulas and other maternal health experts based on their unique needs and preferences. Mae is working to equalize maternal health outcomes, particularly for Black women, who account for a disproportionate share of pregnancy-related deaths in the US each year. By serving as the first point of detection for high-risk/high-cost diagnoses, Mae is increasing access to care, reducing the cost of care, and improving maternal health outcomes through prevention of complications, unnecessary surgeries, and hospitalizations. Mae represents an unparalleled and exciting opportunity to challenge the status quo for Black maternal health and make a lasting impact on the standard of care for maternal health at large.
Leadership and Team
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Maria Velissaris – Founding and Managing Partner More Info
Maria Velissaris is a serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist. She is the Founding and Managing Partner of SteelSky Ventures LLC, the leading women’s health VC fund. Under Maria’s leadership, SteelSky has grown its portfolio to 16 companies, built an ecosystem of strategic LPs and advisors across the healthcare landscape, and championed innovation in markets that have previously been overlooked and underserved. Maria has been named a 2022 USA Justice Fellow by Eisenhower Fellowships. She’s also been featured as a top VC to watch by Forbes, profiled on ABC News and the Atlanta Small Business Network, honored with the 2020 NYU Stern Alumni Changemaker award, and named to Business Insiders’ List of Rising Stars in Venture Capital. Maria obtained a B.S. in Information Systems from Wake Forest University and an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the Stern School of Business at New York University. |
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Casey Albert – Managing Partner More Info
Casey Albert brings 20 years of global operating experience building, scaling and investing in healthcare companies with a focus on women’s health. She is a Managing Partner at SteelSky, where she invests in and works to scale high-growth women’s health companies. Prior to joining SteelSky, Casey invested in early-stage digital health & consumer health start-ups in partnership with Johnson & Johnson. She was CEO/Founder of Kangu, a maternal health tech platform that was acquired in 2018, and was an early product leader at Kiva, which has facilitated billions of dollars in loans to female entrepreneurs in the US and globally. Casey started her career as a management consultant, first at Deloitte, in the Healthcare Practice, and then at Results for Development, where she was Director of the Innovation and Technology group. Casey serves as an advisor to a number of venture-backed women’s health start-ups and speaks frequently on entrepreneurship and women’s health. She holds a BA from Wellesley College and an MBA from Columbia Business School. |
Financial Performance
Impact Performance
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Percentage of Total Assets Under
Management that are Impact Investments: |
100%
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We systematically target companies that improve access, care, or health outcomes in women, addressing both impacts to health equity and gender equality.
We seek to invest in diverse founders and teams that have a lens toward protecting the environment and not contributing to more medical waste. For example, billions of menstrual product are thrown in landfills each year and we invested in a sustainable reusable period underwear to cut down on waste. We also invested in Zipline, which seeks to reduce the carbon footprint for last mile health care delivery services.
Impact Tracking and Monitoring
Learn More
70 Finch Forest Trail, Atlanta, GA 30327, USA
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