Emerging Manager Q&A: Nadav Shimoni about $40M A-Squared Ventures Fund II
Dr. Nadav Shimoni saw a gap in digital health Seed funding and closed a $40M Fund II to fill it. I asked Nadav 10 questions about how he did it
Hey folks,
This is Pavel, welcome to a new edition of our Fireside Chats with Emerging Fund Managers where we ask recently-closed fund managers 10 rapid-fire questions about their fundraising journey.
Today’s guest: Dr. Nadav Shimoni, co-founder of A-Squared Ventures.
About The Firm
A-Squared Ventures is a Seed-stage digital health fund founded by Dr. Nadav Shimoni (MD) and Sam Cronin, backed by Arkin Capital. After Nir Arkin identified that digital health founders were missing dedicated early-stage capital, they launched in 2020 with one obsession: “Who will buy the product and why?” This focus led Nadav to relocate from Israel to New York, establishing dual operations to maximize market friction and build bridges for founders across the ocean.
The model worked. Their first fund ($20M, 2020) already returned capital to LPs through follow-on rounds despite launching during one of the toughest periods for early-stage digital health startups. Fund I backed 11 companies including Eleos, Rhino, Laguna, Siftwell, Nest Genomics, and Revisto.
Now they’re scaling with A-Squared Ventures Fund II, cutting $1M-$2M checks at Seed to Series A with notable LPs such as Shira Eting (Vintage Investment Partners), Tomer Goldberg (Harel Insurance), and continued backing from Nir Arkin and the Arkin family.
The fund leverages Arkin Capital’s $2B+ infrastructure for follow-on rounds, focusing on B2B/B2B2C healthcare IT, tech-enabled care delivery, pharma-tech, and AI-driven solutions for US healthcare.
No hardware. No bio. Only software for unmet business needs.
Here is our fireside chat:
What is your fund’s superpower in one sentence?
Dedicated initiation capital for digital health founders.
How long did the active fundraising process take?
Several months.
Did anybody help you during fundraising: existing LPs, fellow GPs, placement agents?
We had terrific support from our anchor LP - Arkin Capital.
How many LPs are in the final cap table, and what’s their breakdown?
We have a few strategic institutional LPs (including Israel's largest health insurance) and on top of it, prominent individuals from the healthcare industry.
What was the fastest check – time from first call to signed subscription?
One month.
What were the top 3 reasons LPs said “NO”?
Fund size (targeting larger funds as they want to deploy more into each fund).
Sector (prioritizing other sectors).
Stage (interested in exposure to later stages).
What were the top 3 signals that an LP was truly interested in your fund?
They shared a specific number they want to invest, asked for the legal documents and reverted afterwards with comments.
What did LPs actually pay close attention to during fundraising?
I think - honesty, integrality and performance.
What’s the biggest mistake fund managers make when fundraising?
Who am I to say...
What advice would you give to your future self and to other emerging managers about fundraising?
At the end, it is worth it!
Learn more about A-Squared Ventures: Linkedin Announcement
Who do you want me to interview in the next episode?
I’d love to hear your ideas – hit reply below.
Reading this over my evening coffee rn! Kudos Pavel!