PwC certifies KELES as first VC-firm to achieve SFDR Article 9 for digital health investment

Paris & London - March 24, 2025: PwC and KELES, the pioneering digital health venture capital (VC) firm, are setting a new standard in digital health investment, leveraging ESG and innovation. With its novel, forward-thinking Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) Article 9 ESG framework, certified by PwC, KELES is leading the charge in shaping the future of healthcare investment with a strategy that aligns transformative technology and social impact to drive superior financial returns.

KELES is the first digital health VC firm to implement a robust ESG framework that integrates groundbreaking innovation with social impact, improving healthcare accessibility and availability, and ultimately, patient outcomes. By embedding ESG principles into its investment thesis, KELES ensures sustainable value creation and enables cutting-edge technologies to be utilised ethically to improve healthcare for all.

With a targeted fund size of €250 million, KELES is focusing its investments on European growth-stage companies at the forefront of AI-powered drug discovery, precision diagnostics, and next-generation digital health solutions. The firm expects to close its first funding round in the first half of 2025, channeling capital into breakthrough technologies that will define the future of life science and healthcare.

Geoffroy Marcassoli, Sustainability Assurance leader at PwC Luxembourg, said: "Complying with the provisions of Article 9 of the SFDR can be particularly challenging for venture capital investments, as the level and granularity of the data required can be overwhelming and difficult to obtain. The framework developed by KELES not only complies with current requirements but also proactively anticipates future regulatory requirements, such as the revision of the principal adverse impact indicators. With this framework, KELES is demonstrating how European sustainability regulations such as the SFDR can be instrumentalised to meaningfully advance sustainability objectives and invest in the digital transformation of key sectors of the European economy while ensuring a high degree of transparency and investor protection."

Driving Fund Performance Through ESG

KELES’s SFDR Article 9 ESG framework will shape its investment strategy through:

• Positive Social Impact -
• Healthcare impact assessment ensuring portfolio companies contribute to improved
•  healthcare availability and accessibility, ethical usage of healthcare data and AI, and improved patient outcomes.
• Do No Significant Harm -
• Criteria
•  to assess and minimise potential adverse ESG impacts of investments.
• Good Governance -
• Including diversity and inclusion mandates, requiring transparent gender pay gap reporting and board diversity metrics to attract top talent and reflect the needs of diverse patient populations.

Laurent van Lerberghe, Founder and Managing Partner at KELES, said: “This certification from PwC is an exciting step for digital health investment. Our approach to investing will enable large-scale access to new AI solutions and generate stronger financial returns.”

“KELES’s new ESG principles are structured to generate both immediate measurable outcomes and societal benefits, with the emphasis on sustainable value creation over time and returns that contribute to a healthier and more profitable European ecosystem.”

Supporting Digital Innovation for Sustainable Healthcare

The huge financial opportunity presented by the rapid progression of AI and technology in the healthcare industry also brings an opportunity to deliver significant social impact; lowering the cost of healthcare, bringing drugs to market faster and ensuring more patients can benefit from earlier diagnosis and access better treatments.

David Buller, Managing Partner at KELES, said: “Embedding ESG standards early on in digital health investing supports our shared vision for a healthy, equitable and sustainable future. All our portfolio companies will deliver social impact and we will support them to effectively adhere to our Article 9 ESG principles.”

“As the digital health sector evolves rapidly, KELES will be a key player; funding entrepreneurs and companies that are creating breakthrough technologies to solve health challenges and helping them achieve the highest ESG standards. The PwC SFDR Article 9 certification is a milestone in KELES’s journey to accelerate digital health growth in Europe, fuelling a new era of sustainable, high-performance healthcare innovation.”