Esther and Anne Wojcicki back new healthcare accelerator, fund

Source: TechCrunch

Launch of Treehub and AI Health Fund

Investor and former Google product manager Mary Minno announced the launch of an early‑stage startup accelerator called Treehub (treehub.com) and an early‑stage venture firm, the AI Health Fund (aihfund.com). The AI Health Fund serves as the venture arm of the Treehub residency, where founders apply to incubate their ideas.

Treehub Residency Program

• Duration: Six months
  • First 12 weeks: Help founders find product‑market fit.
  • Last 12 weeks: Focus on company direction, fundraising, joining other accelerators, or deploying across hospital systems.

Minno conceived the residency after a personal experience with a family member’s acute leukemia diagnosis, which highlighted difficulties in finding specialists, long wait times, and outdated technology in the healthcare system. She realized that more startups are needed to challenge the status quo.

Partnership with Esther Wojcicki

Minno turned to longtime friend Esther Wojcicki—her former high‑school journalism teacher and mother of 23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki—to help design a program that bridges academic research and startup execution. They noted that many academics “don’t really know how to tell a good story” for venture investors and often lack commercialization expertise. The program aims to pair operators with academic‑focused founders, teaching them the art of building a business.

AI Health Fund

• Purpose: Write early checks ($50,000–$150,000) to companies emerging from academic circles.
• Target size: $10 million; first close was $1.5 million (including $500,000 from family and friends and a $1 million check from billionaire VC Tim Draper).
• Key personnel:
  • Anne Wojcicki – Operating Partner
  • Esther Wojcicki – Founding Adviser
  • Roxana Daneshjou – Assistant Professor of Biomedical Data Science & Dermatology, Stanford Medicine
  • Derek Minno – President of Point Capital (VC firm)
  • Alexander Ioannidis – Assistant Professor of Biomedical Data Science & Genetics, Stanford

The fund is set up as a separate vehicle to support founders who may not go through the Treehub program or who are second/third‑time founders with viable ideas.

Early Portfolio

The AI Health Fund has already backed 12 companies from the Treehub program, including:

• Clair Health – Women’s hormone tracker (also participated in an a16z speedrun)
• Dennis Walls’ new company – Focused on pediatric autism

Residency Experience and Value Proposition

Minno describes the residency as experimental, with the team refining the accelerator‑fund hybrid model. Key aspects include:

• Early‑stage engagement, often before a formal company exists.
• Introducing founders to legal counsel and acting in a co‑founder‑like capacity.
• Providing strategic guidance and problem‑solving support.
• Customizing support (e.g., arranging meetings) rather than enforcing a uniform demo day, recognizing that companies mature at different rates.

The overarching goal is to evaluate the first iteration, determine which components can scale, and eventually expand the model nationwide. Minno emphasizes a commitment to making every participating company successful, with a vision to “10x” the impact after multiple cycles.