Newly-created Pisgah Fund seeks to create jobs, improve health care in WNC

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — A North Carolina-based venture capital firm has announced a fund designed to improve health care and create jobs.

Dogwood Health Trust announced Tuesday that it has invested $25 million in the newly-created Pisgah Fund, a $50 million investment fund focused solely on the 18 counties served by Dogwood Health Trust. The fund will seek out and make investments in start-up or existing high-growth companies that can deliver innovative products or services to improve health in the region and that will produce jobs for Western North Carolina residents.

"We'll be investing in companies that are located here, or would relocate here and bring jobs to the region. That can come in a number of different ways. But we're really excited about the opportunity to foment the innovative health care ecosystem here in Western North Carolina," said Lauren Flickinger, fund manager for Pisgah Fund.

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Hatteras Venture Partners launched the project and will control Pisgah Fund and determine in which companies to invest.

“The two primary purposes of this fund – to support innovations that improve health and to create jobs for people in Western North Carolina – are exactly in keeping with Dogwood Health Trust’s Strategic Priorities around Health and Wellness and Economic Opportunity,” George Renfro, a Dogwood Health Trust Board member who chairs the foundation’s Investment Committee, said in a news release. “Including a fund like this as part of our overall investment portfolio allows us to dedicate more resources toward our charitable purpose of dramatically improving the health and wellbeing of all people and communities in Western North Carolina. It’s another tool in our toolbox, along with our regular grantmaking and other program related investments. We want to use every tool we can to improve lives and provide jobs for the region.”

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Renfro said the $25 million invested in the Pisgah Fund will not impact the foundation’s commitment to grantmaking in the region, as it will come from the organization’s corpus and not its dedicated grantmaking dollars.

“Dogwood has demonstrated their commitment to think and invest creatively when it comes to spurring economic growth and job creation,” Mountain BizWorks executive director Matt Raker said in the news release. “This investment further reinforces Dogwood’s ability to align philanthropy with business to get all economic cylinders firing – with an equity lens that ensures investments happen in rural, minority and women-led organizations. We look forward to seeing how this newest investment will enrich the economic landscape in our region.”

Hatteras Venture Partners has invested across the nation and is a leader in the southeastern United States with its headquarters in Durham, NC. Hatteras invests across the health care sector in biopharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostics and health IT companies that make a difference in the lives of patients and the systems that serve them.

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