December 22, 2017
TearSheet
Patricia Kemp has been investing in financial services technology long before it boomed three years ago.
Since 2012, Kemp has been a partner at Oak HC/FT, a venture capital fund that invests in technology-enabled companies for the healthcare information and services and financial services industries. Specifically, the firm likes to take an 80/20 approach to its investments — 80 percent growth companies and 20 percent early stage.
Thanks to technology, it’s not just healthcare and financial services that have experienced major digital shifts. Simply creating a company has become easier and faster with technology, giving way for more and sometimes better ideas to be realized — and opportunities for Kemp’s firm to invest. That means today, bigger brands, teams and money aren’t necessarily better — if anything, they’re probably slower than the tiny unknown companies that tend to be more agile.
Kemp’s investments span blockchain, data, payments and more with a portfolio of companies that includes the Digital Currency Group, Fastpay Partners, Feedzai, Insureon, Poynt, Trov, Urjanet. Tearsheet caught up with her on how she sees the overlap between fintech and healthcare, how to use data more effectively and how investing today is different from when she began. The following has been edited for length and clarity.