By Milt Capps
Published Thursday, January 9, 2025 3:16 pm

NASHVILLE VC Caduceus Capital Partners today formally announced its Caduceus LAUNCH accelerator program for pre-Seed digital health startups.

The program has been conceived and assembled over the past year and is led by Dallas-based Managing Principal Mitch Morris MD, in collaboration with Nashville-based Scott Kolesar, the latter a co-founder and managing partner of Caduceus Capital.

Kolesar formed Caduceus Capital in 2020 with Senior Managing Partner Dave Vreeland to invest in early-stage digital health companies.

The Caduceus LAUNCH application window is open through March 28 for the 12-week Spring 2025 class, which begins with an intensive weeklong course in Nashville for as many as half-a-dozen startups, with most follow-on cohort engagement by virtual and-or hybrid means.

The deadline for a Fall 2025 cohort has not yet been announced.

Terms and benefits for admitted LAUNCH class members:

• Typical investment: $150K* via a SAFE (includes $50K Services fee)
• Valuation Cap: $2M
• 7% Equity
• Potential Series Seed capital raise from Caduceus Capital Partners: Up to $1M through Caduceus Capital Fund II
• Additional follow-on investment potential from recently launched raises for Fund II and Fund II Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs).

Scott Kolesar

Caduceus closed Fund I in 2023 at nearly $29MM. Interviewed today, Kolesar, 63, said Caduceus now has 11 portfolio companies and "hasn't lost one yet."

VNC research indicates Caduceus's Fund II is in the market.

In a brief interview with VNC today, Texas-based Morris, 69, said the Caduceus team has learned -- as many peers have learned -- that accelerator members find it difficult, if not impossible to travel for personalized training and counseling for long periods of time.

Mitch Morris MD

Morris also said the Caduceus team -- augmented by at least 30 highly experienced mentors -- aims to maintain valuable relationships with all founders in all cohorts beyond their respective 12-week accelerators.

Grads won't be sent-off with little more than "a firm and hearty handshake," Morris added. Its commitment toward supporting growth and success of its companies is why Caduceus sometimes refers to its new program as "an AcceleratorPlus," said Morris.

During the same interview today with VNC, Kolesar, soon 64, said Caduceus LAUNCH venture partners, staff and others will work to ensure participating LAUNCH founders' are prepared for connecting with qualified investors.

Both Vreeland and Kolesar have long-running professional and financial relationships with Nashville's Jumpstart Health Investors, the umbrella over Jumpstart Nova and Jumpstart Foundry.

With respect to education, VNC notes that Morris earned his medical degree at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and did an oncology residency at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center of the UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, according to his LinkedIn. His University of Michigan bachelor's was in zoology and anthropology.

Apart from, but potentially synergistic with his new LAUNCH duties, Morris is apparently committed to advising and-or leading five other healthcare-related organizations, as reflected here today.

Morris said that he's looking forward to playing a pivotal role in 'orchestrating' all Caduceus LAUNCH partners in serving cohort members in very material ways.

VNC asked Morris and Kolesar whether or not they believe Caduceus LAUNCH competes with Seed- and Series-A-oriented Jumpstart Foundry and its affiliates; or, with Nashville Entrepreneur Center's Project Healthcare program (for which no successor has yet been announced to follow now-former chair Eric Thrailkill, who exited that role more than seven months ago).

Among other points, Kolesar noted that Jumpstart Health Investors' Jumpstart Foundry and Jumpstart Nova (Seed, Series A) have and seem likely to maintain wider apertures on their dealflow than pre-Seed-oriented LAUNCH.

Both Morris and Kolesar emphasized that they aim to have productive working and partnering relationships with pro-venture, pro-innovation actors in virtually all the ecosystems they enter. Morris noted that Nashville is, of course, a vital hub for Caduceus.

Kolesar added that Caduceus Capital Partners prioritizes proprietary dealflow, has little interest in auction processes, and no interest in business ideas that seem no farther along than a digital slide show.

Vic Gatto

ADD 1715h: Jumpstart Health Investor Co-founder Vic Gatto told VNC later this afternoon that, while Caduceus's LAUNCH is "similar" to Jumpstart Foundry, the addition of another preSeed accelerator is not likely to "materially change" the competitive landscape.

"There's plenty of opportunity for Jumpstart," Gatto said, adding that he holds Caduceus's Dave Vreeland in high regard.

Caduceus's legal counsel includes attorneys with Holland & Knight. Its public relations counsel for this project is Katie Schlacter of Schlacter Consulting LLC.

VNC also reached out this afternoon to the management teams of Nashville Entrepreneur Center and others, seeking comment. This story will be updated as warranted. VNC

. last edited 1717 9 January 2025