Healthcare · AI · Early-stage investing

Capital from an operator.
Built for healthcare
that actually has to work.

Backing early-stage healthcare and AI founders — building products that can survive real clinical environments, not just demos.

Fast decisions. High conviction. Clear passes.

Pre-seed  ·  Seed  ·  $250K – $1M initial checks
$1.43B
iProcedures → Provation → Fortive
Successful exits as founder
20+
20+ years building healthcare technology

Built for the companies
we never had backing for.

Raj Popuri is a healthcare technology operator turned investor. He founded iProcedures, a clinical workflow platform for perioperative care, and exited to Provation Medical (Clearlake Capital). Provation was subsequently acquired by Fortive as part of a $1.43B transaction.

RASS Ventures was built from that experience. Two decades of understanding how healthcare systems actually buy, deploy, and extract value from technology. This is not theoretical investing.

Most investors evaluate healthcare from the outside. This perspective comes from having built inside it. That's the lens every investment is evaluated through.

2004

Founded Arrowhead Technologies. Acquired by Starlight Ventures. First exit.

2012

Founded iProcedures, a perioperative data management and anesthesia workflow platform for acute care.

2021

iProcedures acquired by Provation Medical (Clearlake Capital). Merged and positioned for strategic exit.

2021

iProcedures, as part of Provation Medical, acquired by Fortive for $1.43B. One of healthcare IT's landmark transactions.

2022—

Active early-stage investor through RASS Ventures across healthcare AI, clinical SaaS, and AI-driven B2B platforms. $250K–$1M checks at pre-seed and seed.


Operators who've built inside it.

Raj Popuri
Founder & Managing Partner

Founded iProcedures, part of Provation Medical's $1.43B sale to Fortive. Twenty years building clinical software inside real health systems.

Dr. Mani Vindhya
Clinical Partner

Chief Medical Officer, Provation iPro. Practicing anesthesiologist and three-time Tampa Magazine Top Doctor. Clinical lens on every deal.

Gavi Narra
Technology Partner

CTO of iProcedures. Serial founder with deep expertise in healthcare software architecture, cloud infrastructure, and AI-driven enterprise platforms.

Investment thesis

Where domain understanding
matters more than speed.

Healthcare AI  ·  Clinical workflow software  ·  AI-driven B2B platforms in complex, regulated environments where failure actually matters

Healthcare-first. Selectively invests in AI platforms where the disruption is clear and the path to enterprise adoption — including healthcare — is evident.

01

Healthcare AI

AI applied to real clinical workflows: decision support, documentation, and diagnostics that integrate without disrupting existing care delivery.

02

Digital Health

Patient engagement and chronic disease platforms aligned to how healthcare is delivered and paid for. Measurable outcomes, sustainable unit economics.

03

Clinical SaaS

Enterprise software for health systems and providers where workflow depth creates genuine defensibility. The kind that becomes infrastructure, not a feature.


What founders actually get.

Most early investors offer capital and introductions. RASS brings operating judgment from building and exiting in healthcare. Not from reviewing decks.


The judgment is earned, not borrowed.


We don't invest in many companies. We pass quickly when the founder, valuation, or differentiation doesn't hold up.

  • 01

    Domain-first diligence

    Technical and clinical evaluation before financial modeling. EHR integrations, clinical workflow constraints, and regulatory pathways understood from direct experience, not frameworks.

  • 02

    Enterprise sales acceleration

    Healthcare enterprise sales is a different game. Direct relationships with health system leaders, GPO networks, and clinical decision-makers. With the credibility of a proven exit in the sector.

  • 03

    M&A positioning from day one

    Having sold twice to strategic acquirers, RASS knows what buyers want. Product architecture, integration story, and customer concentration shaped early. Not scrambled at exit.

  • 04

    Follow-on capital access

    Active across direct investments and partner funds including Florida Funders, Pack Ventures, Sugati Ventures, and Arcventis Health Partners. Institutional co-investment available when it matters.

Structure

Investments made directly through RASS Ventures and alongside a small set of partner funds. Initial checks typically $250K–$1M at pre-seed and seed. Founders work directly with Raj. No layered fund structure.


Building something that needs
to work in the real world?

RASS invests in a small number of companies each year. Focus is on founders who understand clinical workflows, enterprise buying dynamics, and real-world adoption. Not just the market size or the story.

If you're still figuring out the problem, this is probably not the right fit.

If you know what you're building, who it's for, and why your team is the one to build it, reach out.

Tell us what you're building, your stage, and attach your deck. We read every submission.

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