ANN LAMONT

Ann Lamont started her venture career at Oak Investment Partners in 1982. That was the early dawn of venture capital, when most firms were still figuring out what a term sheet should look like.

She spent over three decades there, eventually becoming a managing partner and one of the most respected names in growth-stage investing.

In 2014, she co-founded Oak HC/FT with a singular thesis. Healthcare and fintech were about to get completely rewired by technology.

The firm raised $500 million for its first fund. By 2021, Oak HC/FT had over $5 billion under management.

That is a staggering amount of capital pointed at just two sectors.

Her track record speaks through exits. She backed Lending Club before its IPO.

She invested in Noom when it was still a niche fitness app. She put money into Devoted Health, a Medicare Advantage startup, and Collective Health, which reimagines employer health plans.

She also sits on the board of several public companies and served as a trustee at Yale, her alma mater.

Oak HC/FT (co-founder and managing partner), Oak Investment Partners (former managing partner). Board seats at Devoted Health, Noom, Collective Health, Lending Club, and others.

Lamont is a sector specialist. She does not chase whatever is hot.

She picked healthcare and fintech and has stayed there for decades. Her approach is growth-stage investing, meaning she comes in after the product exists but before the company has scaled to its full potential.

She looks for businesses that sit at the intersection of technology and regulation, which is where most VCs get scared.

She is patient capital personified. Lamont does not flip companies for quick returns.

She sits on boards, works with management teams for years, and waits for the compounding to kick in. Her hit rate is remarkably high because she actually understands the industries she invests in, not just the spreadsheets.

Lending Club was a defining early win. Lamont invested in the online lending platform well before the fintech boom made peer-to-peer lending a household concept.

Lending Club went public in December 2014 at a $5.4 billion valuation, making it the largest US tech IPO of that year. Her healthcare bets have been equally strong.

Devoted Health raised at a $12.6 billion valuation in 2021. That is a Medicare startup worth more than most hospital chains.

Lamont has been notably disciplined about avoiding blow-ups, which is itself a kind of superpower in venture capital. The broader Oak Investment Partners fund had some misses in its later vintage years before she spun out Oak HC/FT.

The lesson she took from that was clear. Focus beats diversification in venture.

She has not strayed from that lesson since.

Invest in what you know deeply. Do not try to be an expert in everything.

Lamont believes that deep sector knowledge is the only sustainable edge in venture capital. She has said that understanding regulation is a competitive advantage because most VCs run away from regulated industries.

She runs toward them.

Married to Ed Lamont, a financier. They have children and live in Connecticut.

She is a private person who keeps family life out of the press, which in venture capital is increasingly rare.

BA from Yale University. MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Both are exactly the pedigree you would expect from someone who has been in the venture game since the 1980s.

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