Mirza Baig

The announced acquisition of Performant Healthcare, Inc. [#Nasdaq: PHLT] accelerates Ardan Equity and New Mountain Capital portfolio company Machinify's mission to create "the modern, healthcare payments intelligence platform built for accuracy and transparency,” as David Pierre, CEO of Machinify describes. As our partner and friend Matt Holt, president of New Mountain Capital private equity, articulates “The future of the U.S. healthcare system requires modernization of IT infrastructure, including patient-centric data networks. Performant plus Machinify...will unlock the potential for a new system that is aligned with a more productive care model that is both more efficient and delivers better patient outcomes.” #privateequity #healthcaredata #healthit #healthcaresaas #saasgrowth #healthplan #healthinsurance #paymentintegrity #healthcaresoftware #digitalhealth #mergers #acquisitions #cms #medicare #medicaid #ai #artificialintelligence #healthcareai

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**Exploring Strategic Bids in Emerging Tech** The recent bid from MicroVision to acquire Luminar's lidar business for $33 million underscores the competitive nature of technology acquisitions. As the landscape of venture capital evolves, understanding these dynamics can inform investment strategies. At ElevenX Capital, we believe that strategic acquisitions can be pivotal in leveraging market innovations. These moves not only enhance portfolio capabilities but also demonstrate the importance of evaluating emerging trends. What factors do you consider most crucial when assessing the viability of such acquisitions? #investing #innovation #venturecapital #entrepreneurship

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Intelligent data platforms are the future of the healthcare industry. This compelling acquisition by Ardan Equity portfolio company Datavant positions the company as a continued leader in the sector. Most important are the benefits for life sciences customers and the impact to their pharma portfolios and their patients. Datavant enables more than 60 million healthcare records to move between thousands of organizations, more than 70,000 hospitals and clinics, 75% of the 100 largest health systems, and an ecosystem of 300+ real-world data partners. Always proud to partner with amazing leaders like CEO Kyle Armbrester, Arnaub Chatterjee and the team at New Mountain Capital led by great partner Matt Holt. #healthit #pharmait #lifesciences #digitalhealth #privateequity #mergers #acquisitions #healthcareit #healthcaresoftware #saasgrowth #healthcaredata #data #pharma #pharmadata #dataplatform #privateequity #ai #artificialintelligence #rwe #realworldevidence #rwd #realworlddata

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For small business buyers, how important is industry experience? I discussed this topic with Lisa Piercey—physician-turned-operator, former Tennessee Commissioner of Health, and now a healthcare acquirer. The key takeaway: It can be the difference between generating alpha and facing unpleasant surprises post-close. Below are some of the other topics we discussed: 1️⃣ Credibility wins deals. Not just with employees and customers—with sellers. 2️⃣ Beware "unknown unknowns." Buying outside your domain? Mitigate with true subject-matter experts. 3️⃣ Use a "tight, loose, tight" thesis framework. Define the buy box clearly, stay open minded in the middle, then apply a binary filter: in the buy box or not. 4️⃣ When deals wobble, get creative. One of Lisa's best examples: a contract CEO + call option structure to bridge a diligence gap and flatten the post-close learning curve. Lisa also wrote Natural Born Entrepreneurs for mid-career professionals considering ETA, packed with templates, checklists, and an honest look at the tradeoffs vs. a W-2 path. If you're underwriting operators, or searching yourself, this one's worth a listen. Watch here: https://lnkd.in/dadEJ7WZ Listen here: https://lnkd.in/dm2sAG9v

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Building Popai Together: Bringing AI to the Heart of Patient Engagement At Team8, we believe the future of healthcare will be built on trust and data - the foundation for technology that empowers, not burdens, clinical teams. That belief led us to build Popai Health, which just announced an $11M round led by Team8, NEA Ventures, Essen Health Care and other strategic partners. Popai is building the foundational platform for Patient Phone Conversation Intelligence: turning everyday phone interactions between care teams and patients into real-time clinical and operational insight. Why does this matter? Because the shift to value-based care depends on scalable, data-driven patient engagement. Yet, over 15 million patient calls happen every day in the U.S., and most of them vanish - unanalyzed, unused, and unconnected. Popai is changing that by giving voice data structure, meaning, and actionability. Already live with organizations like Essen Health Care and Clover Health, Popai’s AI is analyzing more than 18 million minutes of patient conversations, reducing documentation burden by over 20%, and unlocking entirely new capabilities in risk detection, care coordination, and population health. This is the Team8 thesis in action: combining deep domain expertise, technical infrastructure, and founder-market fit to build companies that solve systemic challenges. Voice is not just another dataset, it’s the most human, real-time, and underutilized source of patient intelligence in healthcare. Popai is turning that blind spot into a strategic advantage. Congratulations to Eyal Gurion, Michael Latar, Elad Levy, and the entire Popai team. We’re proud to be building this together. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dN2j6DqZ

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Talking with Philip Settimi, MSE MD was a reminder that reliability is one of the most powerful forms of innovation. With over 25 years of experience and 3 billion data points, PartsSource delivers data-driven insights that power smarter purchasing decisions and measurable cost savings. The result is more uptime, more capacity, and more care delivered with the same resources. Seeing the company’s “mission control” platform in action, where hospitals track and optimize every critical device, was a glimpse into the future of hospital operations. It’s practical, scalable innovation built around the realities of how care gets delivered every day.

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AI for CFOs and operations teams that can illuminate the business equation and optimize it. AI for health systems that helps them with everything from claims to better care. The next wave of multi-billion-dollar companies will be built around ideas like these. That’s why Felicis just published our first-ever Call for Startups. We’re eager to meet founders who see what others miss. These are the areas capturing my imagination. Whether you fit here or you're inventing something new, I'd love to hear from you.

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𝗡𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗢𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 Lucas J. Pols, GP at Pegasus, delivers critical wisdom for founders navigating the complex world of startup investment. He reveals that while ownership percentage isn't everything, board control is the real game-changer. Learn why strategic board composition matters more than pure equity stakes, and discover how founders can maintain their vision while bringing in vital outside investment. #Startup #VentureCapital #Founder

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Nelson Mullins Partners George Akers and Mario Bolanos will be presenting at the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) on March 18 for “Formation Fumbles: Common Issues for Early-Stage Startups.” They will walk through common challenges early-stage startups face, including entity choice, maintaining corporate formalities, equity matters such as 83(b) elections and option approvals, QSBS tax considerations, and IP assignment. This session provides practical guidance to help startups navigate formation pitfalls. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e489Up5V

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The healthcare workforce is one of four themes we are betting on at Terrarium, where we think technology and AI will catalyze massive changes to the status quo, driving outsized impact on the industry as a whole. We published a white paper today on why building for the future of the healthcare workforce is prime ground for startups, and where we think returns are going to concentrate: https://lnkd.in/e6hsR2VA. Why are we betting on workforce solutions? Simply put, the opportunity is massive. There are not enough healthcare workers across all licensed roles to meet demand, a shortage crisis that will only get worse if nothing is done. Meanwhile, the cost of labor post-Covid--driven primarily by surging contract staffing fees--has become untenable for employers. Labor increased from 50% of hospital OpEx (2011-2019) to 60%+ of hospital OpEx in 2023. These costs are no longer predictable and are eating away at already razor-thin margins in most cases. We have heard from large health systems that contract staffing fees account for over half of recruitment costs, and that total costs of labor shortages are estimated into the hundreds of millions of dollars when accounting for lost revenues alongside direct costs of attrition and replacement. 💸 Healthcare is also the most licensed industry in America, and structural barriers to education and licensure that slow the entry of new professionals into the workforce are a major hurdle to innovation at the top of the talent funnel. We think this hurdle can also act as a defensible moat, however, for companies that do successfully gain traction in this space. 🎓 All to say, we are focused on building and investing in solutions that don't just treat the symptoms, but aim to fix the root cause of the problem: 🌱 Solutions that GROW the workforce, and 🤖 Solutions that OPTIMIZE the work itself If our POV resonates with you, please reach out! We are looking for EIRs to incubate new companies in this space alongside us, and we also write checks to pre-seed and seed teams already on their way. Special thanks for the insights to: Mark Rosenblum, Yaniv Sadka, Austin Dirks, Stephen R. Saine, Hank Capps, MD FAAFP, Laura P. Dannels, PhD, MBA, SPHR, Gabriel Szaszko, Wellstar Health System, Cleveland Clinic, Northwell Health, Mount Sinai Health System, Carl Madi, Lee Hudson Teslik, Alexi Nazem, James Hueston, Rachel Parlier, Raquel Scott, MBA, Zachary Fleitman, Grace Dhanraj, Tanya Beja, Tara Sullivan, Brittany Wadhwani and many others! Company Ventures Terrarium

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Is Delaware incorporation really the default choice for startups in 2026? For a small percentage of venture backed companies, yes. For most founders, it adds cost and complexity without real value. Incorporation should follow strategy, traction, and fundraising plans. Before choosing Delaware, ask whether your business truly requires it right now. Structure should support growth, not signal ambition. #startupstrategy #delawareincorporation #entrepreneurship

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The move from early traction to scale forces a different set of capital decisions. In today's episode of the Private Equity Value Creation Podcast, Jonathan D. Drillings of Riverside Acceleration Capital talks with Shiv Narayanan about how B2B software companies fund that in-between phase—and why the wrong structure at the wrong moment creates problems later. Tune in to learn: - The role of growth lending in hitting milestones - How early equity affects dilution, valuation and future flexibility - What durability actually looks like before scaling - How AI affects risk without changing the fundamentals And much more. The link to the episode is in the comments below.

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Private equity is changing its playbook. The era of the simple 'roll-up' is ending. Investors are now looking at leadership alignment and operational excellence as the true drivers of valuation for physician groups. Burnout and disruptive behavior aren't just HR issues anymore: they’re financial liabilities. We’ve seen firsthand how targeted executive coaching and mentoring can turn a struggling group into a high-value asset by fixing the team dynamics at the core. Investing in your leaders is the most direct path to increasing your valuation. #PrivateEquity #PhysicianLeadership #ExecutiveCoaching #HealthcareROI

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Becoming the largest digital health company in the Middle East is a milestone underpinned by disciplined capital allocation, good unit economics and a strong revenue model that is resilient at scale. The capital provides us a strategic mandate to accelerate growth, expand our market footprint, and drive sustainable returns. We as an incredible team have built a business that delivers measurable value — to our patients, our partners, and our investors. The trajectory is clear. Now we execute. Here to win. #TruDoc #TeamWork #MiddleEast #Leadership TruDoc TruDoc KSA Pulsar Capital

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Say you know me without saying it ... "Hey, let's improve healthcare purchasing!" Durable goods, every day disposables, every part of purchasing in healthcare products continues to be broken. Natan Wise and team Conduit Health are improving the spend process for consumers, healthcare providers. This moves $100b in annual spend, but also improves people's lives. You can read our deeper take at XYZ here: https://lnkd.in/gEhfACtB Thrilled to have more money to run with the Drive Capital partnership! And Maybe you want to improve people's everyday lives? Live in NYC? You probably want to work here: https://lnkd.in/gtGEB8Ku

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Built three new intelligence modules this week. Module 1: Healthcare workforce pipeline tracker. Connects WIOA training completions to local hospital hiring patterns. Shows which programs actually place graduates vs which ones just hit federal metrics. Module 2: PE deal sourcing overlay. Maps lower middle market transaction activity against workforce development funding patterns. Reveals which sectors are drawing both private capital and public training dollars. Module 3: Skills gap analyzer. Cross-references job postings with training program curricula in real-time. Identifies the disconnect between what employers need and what programs teach. Most consulting firms tell you about workforce challenges. We're building the systems that track them at scale.

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