Three Arch Partners

Three Arch Partners was co-founded in the mid-1990s by Mark Wan, Wilfred Jaeger, Jeffrey Bird, and Nina Kjellson. Jaeger and Wan brought prior venture experience from firms including Brentwood Associates, while Bird and Kjellson added operating and clinical networks. The partnership was structured to include practicing physicians as venture partners, a distinctive feature that shaped both deal sourcing and portfolio-company support.

The firm invested primarily at the Series A and B stages across three healthcare sectors: medical devices, healthcare services, and health-technology platforms. Check sizes typically ranged from $5 million to $20 million per initial investment. Three Arch led or co-led rounds and maintained concentrated portfolios, often holding board seats for ten years or longer before exit.

Confirmed positions include TransEnterix, a robotic-surgery company that went public on the NYSE American exchange, and CardioNet, a wireless cardiac-monitoring business later acquired by BioTelemetry. The firm's broader portfolio included both FDA-regulated device companies and health-IT platforms sold to hospital systems.

No. After raising a fourth fund of $375 million in 2002 and an initial close on a fifth fund in 2010, the partnership decided not to raise additional committed capital and shifted to managing out the remaining portfolio. By the mid-2010s, the founding partners had separated into new ventures.

The firm recruited practicing physicians and hospital executives as formal venture partners, embedding clinical-workflow knowledge into sourcing, diligence, and board-level guidance. This operating-room perspective gave the partnership an information advantage when evaluating medical-device and health-IT companies, distinguishing it from firms that relied primarily on PhDs, consultants, or career investors.

The partnership concentrated its investments in US-based healthcare companies, with additional deal activity in Western Europe, particularly Germany and the United Kingdom. The San Mateo headquarters placed the firm within the Sand Hill Road venture ecosystem, facilitating syndication with other healthcare-focused funds.