Fellowship Spotlight: The Emergent Fund

In 2013, Curtis Merriweather, Jr. found himself navigating the complexities of the healthcare system while supporting his wife, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Despite their  best efforts to secure quality care, they were tragically impacted by misdiagnosis, medical errors, and omissions. Merriweather recalls, “Misdiagnosis, errors, and omissions have been the third leading cause of death for years, claiming more than 250,000 lives annually.” Motivated to help prevent such tragedies for others, Merriweather launched the Emergent Fund, a HealthTech-focused growth equity and buy-and-build fund dedicated to addressing these fatal flaws in healthcare. “This is a huge problem that we want to bring awareness to and solve,” he says.

Emergent Fund

The Emergent Fund is looking to invest in innovative founders within the HealthTech space who are tackling misdiagnosis, medical errors, and omissions in healthcare, which together comprise the third leading cause of death in the United States. With a $100M+ target raise, the fund backs later-stage, post-market fit, and revenue-generating companies. “We want to make sure they’ve already identified and overcome the technical risk,” Merriweather says. “The only risk we want to expose our investors to is the market risk.” This disciplined focus enables the Emergent Fund to make more resilient investments with the likelihood of generating alpha for investors. While 60% of the fund will be allocated to growth equity investments, with the remaining 40% dedicated to majority-control opportunities. 

The fund targets emerging healthcare technology companies that leverage AI, advanced analytics, and digital therapeutics to drive efficiency, accessibility, and innovation, ultimately redefining digitial medicine, patient care, and healthcare infrastructure. By providing strategic capital, operational expertise, and industry connections, Emergent supports founders in scaling life-changing solutions that reduce preventable deaths. “The impact is the driving fuel that gives life to Emergent Fund,” Merriweather clarifies. “Our investment thesis is centered on improving patient outcomes through technology.”

Experience-Informed Leadership

Named a Gamechanger by the White House Policy Advisor for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in 2020 and recipient of the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024, Merriweather spent over 25 years working in the highly regulated industry of government contracting and technology. “I’ve worked at the highest levels of government, integrated Ballistic Missile Defense Systems (BMDS) for the military, and managed multi-billion dollar contracts,” he shares. 

Along with his experience as a computer engineer for the Department of Defense (DoD) and Director of Cyber Programs, Merriweather’s background equips him with a unique perspective for leading in complex, regulated markets. “My experiences managing global, mission-critical teams are directly applicable to healthcare, another highly regulated environment where lives are on the line,” he notes. 

While his career gave him the technical and managerial foundation to confront these challenges, it was his personal loss that sparked his passion for healthcare. Reflecting on his wife’s treatment journey in 2013, he remembers feeling anxious as doctors repeatedly asked questions about her condition: “What if this doctor is the decision-maker, and I forgot an important detail that affects my wife’s care?” That fear of human error, and the realization that technology could help prevent it, shaped his future mission. There’s a degree of human error that can be mitigated through the use of innovative technologies like the ones Emergent Fund is seeking out and investing in.

Pivoting After Loss: From PhD to VC

Even when they provided complete information and asked the right questions, Merriweather and his wife continued to face inadequate communication and oversight from providers. “They were still missing what was obvious to us,” he recalls. His wife passed away in 2014, a loss that sent him on a profound journey of reflection and purpose. 

Seeking to understand how technology could fail patients so critically, Merriweather pursued a Ph.D. in Management, “I chose a program that allowed me to blend my love for business with my love for technology to address healthcare challenges,” he points out. “I wanted to understand how technology failed me when it mattered most.” Those insights became the foundation for his evidence-based growth and private equity HealthTech-focused investment strategy.

A Far-Reaching Network and Data-Driven Execution

During his doctoral studies, Merriweather developed relationships with major healthcare systems such as Kaiser Permanente, MetroHealth, and the Cleveland Clinic. Those connections led to strategic partnerships between the Emergent Fund and several HealthTech accelerators, enabling access to cutting-edge deal flow and founder talent, where some of the brightest minds in HealthTech are concentrated. These partnerships facilitate Emergent’s ability to identify and land deals that are not only the most promising but also the most aligned. 

One example involves two biomedical scientists, who previously supported an academic medical technology (MedTech) research lab, who launched a wearable technology that monitors SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy). This company’s technology has broad commercial potential and an application within the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), bridging healthcare and government sectors. Through Emergent, they gain not only capital but also mentorships and operational guidance from Merriweather’s extensive experience. 

Beyond its network advantages, Emergent leverages AI and machine learning to enhance its investment process. “We are truly a data-driven company,” Merriweather emphasizes, referencing their proprietary tool of an AI-enabled system called DAVID – Data Analytics for Value Identification and Diligence. “DAVID triages our inbound deal flow and automates aspects of market mapping, total addressable market (TAM) sizing, and KPI benchmarking,” he explains. “We’re leveraging evidence and datacentricity to build predicative capabilities that maximize alpha. This is the next evolution of growth and private equity.” 

Participating in the VC Include Fellowship

“I cannot say enough good things about the program,” Merriweather says enthusiastically of his time in the VC Include Fellowship, which he credits with sharpening his fundraising and fund-management strategy. “It really taught me what I didn’t know,” he admits. “It’s been an eye-opener and game-changer.” 

He also cites his mentor match as an enormously valuable asset. “The thing I’m most excited about right now is the mentor they assigned me. He’s been an LP for two decades and really helped me flesh out the details on our fund strategy. The insight he provided, the candor, and industry depth helped me refine our strategy; it was the cherry on top of an already amazing program.”

Curtis’s humility, congeniality, and curiosity stood out to the VC Include team. As Curtis and Emergent Fund continue to catalyze their mission-critical work, we’ll be watching along with pride and honor to be a part of the Emergent story.