#Twenty25 - Funding the future of health tech - Part 1/20 Interview with Tatum Getty, Thena Capital

Ian Coyne: Would you provide an overview of THENA?

Tatum Getty: THENA Capital is a UK Venture Capital Medical Technology fund supporting high growth companies that create transformative health experiences. Fund I is focused on early-stage digital and fast-tracked devices, backing businesses addressing key need spaces across care delivery, patient support, and medical product verticals, from chronic conditions to women’s health, cardiovascular, oncology, and mental health.

THENA Capital is on a mission to accelerate the development of life changing companies.

Ian: For 2025, where do you think the most interesting investments will be?

Tatum: Digital products and medical devices will continue to be hot investment areas. This is a result of the convergence of key market factors including an optimized level of tech innovation an increasing consumer demand for better healthcare and an appetite from large corporates, competing in the therapeutics and novel device space, to access more cutting-edge health tech as companions to their existing products/ products in their pipeline or to bolster their broader portfolio. For example, J&J has made significant acquisitions in the medtech space, and specifically in cardiovascular, spending over $30 billion in the past year. This trend will persist, driving interest and investments in earlier-stage pipelines. Women's health is also just scratching the surface of its potential, with notable examples like the Flo unicorn setting the stage for an exciting 2025.

Ian: Are there any particular areas in women's health that you are excited about?

Tatum: Reproductive healthcare, especially from an accessibility standpoint, is a low-hanging fruit; this includes fertility, perimenopause, menopause, and beyond. Hormonal health is a significant area ripe for disruption, but there is still much to learn and understand. Data and AI models will likely accelerate the innovation in this area.

Ian: What about digital therapeutics? Any areas ripe for disruption or investment?

Tatum: Mental health presents a huge opportunity for disruption. Despite various efforts, in our opinion, no one has yet crafted a solution with the same power and efficacy that we have seen in other areas. There are point solutions but there is an opportunity to open up access to this market through digital platforms, therapeutics and interventions.

Another area we believe has huge potential for impact through innovation is in chronic conditions. We are hopeful for a solution that allows patients to understand their condition, make changes and improvements and ideally do this outside of a clinic to make this sustainable.

Ian: Let’s look to the next horizon - beyond 2025, what areas are you personally most excited about?

Tatum: I'm particularly excited about medtech. The UK and EU have seen a surge in innovation, with around 15,000 new patents filed in medtech this past year. The challenge lies in commercialization, but the ecosystem is developing, with funds like THENA Capital which have an understanding how to fit innovations into the healthcare system.

The gender healthcare gap has been another area garnering attention and so women's health also remains a huge opportunity, and I believe every VC will eventually want to be involved in some way. Fundamentally, the healthcare space has been built around male patient focused products and solutions, but this only addresses the needs of half of the population. Conversely, 70% of healthcare decisions in a family are made by women so addressing the gender healthcare gap will create transformative outcomes for a huge portion of TAM (total addressable market). Products that address both male and female patients, customers and consumers will win going forward.

Ian: Are there any specific innovations in medtech that you find particularly exciting?

Tatum: Elderly care support, whether wearable or otherwise, is transformational. Moving care from the clinic to the home as well as focusing on prevention can significantly impact not only elderly patients but also their caretakers and families. COVID has shown that we can adapt to technological innovations despite age, making this a very investable market segment. There is a myth that the older generations are tech averse – that’s simply not true and the sooner we capitalise on that the better for everyone around the patient.

Ian: Finally leaping ahead to the next horizon - If you had a magic wand, what changes would you make to the health system?

Tatum: I would shift the system towards a preventative capacity rather than a reactionary one. Promoting wellness vs solely treating illness. This includes getting insurers and payers on board to benefit the entire system by addressing issues before they become problems.

On a linked topic, we need to figure out data privacy to leverage AI capabilities while keeping personal information secure. AI and quantum now have the capability to handle and process huge data sets and infer insights from unstructured data. If we can leverage patient data to allow this to happen – in an ethical and compliant way – we will unlock a new model for healthcare and wellness overall.

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Tatum Getty, Founding General Partner at Thena Capital

Tatum has built her career in marketing and community building, working with brands such as SoulCycle, Barry’s Bootcamp, and Tonal, across the UK and the US. She has an MBA from the University of Southern California and an undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis. While helping build brands from the inside, for over a decade, Tatum entered the investment space, bringing capital to deals across health and wellness.

Tatum is deeply committed to the democratization of healthcare and closing the equity gap. Her hands-on support is pivotal for founders of game-changing products.

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