The American Hospital Association is taking a direct approach to advancing health equity, providing funding and support to investment institutions that emphasize personalized healthcare startups led by women and people from racial and minority communities.

AHA has invested in SteelSky Ventures, a women-led fund whose portfolio focuses on maternal health, telemedicine and home care services, and artificial intelligence tools for managing chronic health conditions, the trade group Announce Tuesday.

Doug Shaw, AHA’s senior vice president of business development, said this marks the organization’s second such investment in a planned four rounds. In January, the association joined a group of healthcare organizations and financial institutions, Invested $55 million in Jumpstart Nova, a fund led by Marcus Whitney that plans to specifically support health tech companies with black founders. AHA has not disclosed the value of its investment.

The association begins to dabble in investing, launching its first fund In 2019, it was created in partnership with Concord Health Partners. The $50 million pool is aimed at startups serving general hospitals. With the latest investment, the AHA is narrowing its focus to personalized health solutions that hospitals can deploy to address health disparities.

The AHA also seeks to increase the capital allocated to funds and businesses led by historically marginalized people. Last year, Black-owned health tech companies made up just 1 percent of U.S. venture capital funding, according to data collected by Crunchbase. According to seed fund Rock Health, investments in women’s health will account for 7% of health tech funding by 2021.

Shaw said AHA decided to act as a strategic investor in the fund, rather than launching its own fund, to alleviate the funding shortfall.

“Our investment is a signal of our commitment to righting and ending some of these injustices, and truly giving these healthcare innovators the creations our members are looking for,” said Joy Lewis, AHA senior vice president. solutions and service opportunities.” President, Health Equity Strategies.

Having the largest hospital trade association in the U.S. is advantageous because the AHA brings a network of nearly 5,000 member hospitals as potential clients, said Maria Velissaris, founder and general partner of SteelSky Ventures.

SteelSky operates a portfolio of nearly $72 million in assets, according to managing partner Buffy Alegria. In addition to women’s health services, the company has invested in companies developing ancillary services, such as an online licensing platform aimed at increasing the number of female therapists, a drone delivery service for prescription drugs and a menstrual clothing company.

“Hospitals like us because we have a health equity checklist. While they may have some solutions now, they may not be inclusive,” Velissaris said. “We’re still looking for new companies, especially in women’s health, that they don’t have yet. We’re able to show them [these services and products] and get him to the hospital as soon as possible. “