Olympus Expands VC Strategy With $150M Fund to Back MedTech Startups

The Japanese medical technology giant expands its venture arm as competition, innovation, and strategic M&A reshape global healthcare

Japan-based Olympus Corporation has sharply increased its commitment to startup-driven innovation, announcing a $150 million investment into Olympus Innovation Ventures Fund II. The new fund triples the size of its earlier venture effort, a deeper push into the global MedTech startup ecosystem, particularly in gastrointestinal (GI), urology, and respiratory care areas where Olympus already has a strong clinical footprint.

Rather than treating venture capital as a peripheral activity, Olympus is positioning it as a core strategic tool. The move suggests the company is looking beyond incremental R&D and instead aiming to tap into faster-moving startup innovation to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving healthcare market.

From capital provider to long-term partner

The new fund will be overseen by Olympus Innovation Ventures (OIV), a fully owned unit of Olympus Corporation of the Americas. The venture arm invests across stages, supporting startups from early formation to later growth in markets worldwide.

Importantly, Olympus is not limiting its role to funding alone. Portfolio companies gain access to the company’s clinical expertise, engineering capabilities, hospital networks, and global go-to-market infrastructure. This hands-on approach reflects a growing trend in corporate venture capital, where large companies act as strategic partners rather than passive investors.

Building a pipeline:

OIV’s mandate goes beyond financial returns. The venture arm is designed to create a steady pipeline of:

• Strategic partnerships
• Potential acquisition targets
• Early visibility into emerging technologies

Since its launch in October 2021, OIV has invested in nine MedTech startups, including companies working on AI-driven clinical workflows and advanced imaging technologies for cancer detection. These investments align closely with Olympus’s strengths in endoscopy and diagnostic imaging, suggesting a disciplined and focused investment thesis.

Learning from the first fund and scaling up

Olympus’s first venture fund, OIV Fund I, did have a capital allocation of $50 million and invested in nine startups. Notable paortfolio companies include:

• On Target Laboratories (US), which develops molecular imaging agents
• Universal Diagnostics (Spain), known for non-invasive colorectal cancer tests

The launch of Fund II indicates confidence in the early outcomes of these investments. Olympus has also confirmed that it will continue supporting companies backed under the first fund, reinforcing its long-term commitment rather than a short-term experimental approach.

Focus on endoscopy-enabled innovation

According to Gabriela Kaynor, Olympus’s chief strategy officer and chair of OIV’s investment committee, the expanded fund will allow the company to continue backing startups building differentiated solutions in endoscopy-enabled care.

This focus is particularly relevant as endoscopy moves beyond diagnostics into therapeutic and minimally invasive interventions, an area attracting significant startup activity and investor interest globally.

Venture capital and robotics converge

Olympus is also pursuing innovation outside of its venture fund activities. In July, the company partnered with private equity firm Revival Healthcare Capital to launch Swan EndoSurgical Robotics, a new startup focused on building an endoluminal robotic system. The platform is designed to enhance minimally invasive procedures for gastrointestinal lesions and tumours, addressing current limitations in conventional endoscopic techniques.

The move highlights how Olympus is combining corporate venture capital, joint ventures, and internal capabilities to shape future treatment models, especially where manual endoscopy faces ergonomic and technical limits.

What this means for the startup ecosystem

For MedTech founders, Olympus’s expanded fund signals growing opportunities to work with large incumbents that bring regulatory expertise, clinical access, and global scale. For the broader startup ecosystem, it reflects a shift where established healthcare companies are no longer waiting to acquire innovation—but are actively co-creating it from the early stages.

A calculated push for long-term leadership

Olympus’s decision to triple its venture capital commitment is less about chasing trends and more about future-proofing its leadership in medical technology. By aligning capital, partnerships, and product strategy, the company is positioning itself to influence how next-generation medical solutions are built, tested, and deployed.

For startups operating at the intersection of healthcare and technology, Olympus Innovation Ventures Fund II could become a critical gateway to scale, credibility, and long-term impact.

Quick Takeaways

• Olympus has launched a $150 million second venture capital fund, tripling its earlier commitment to startup investing.
• The fund will focus on MedTech startups working in gastrointestinal, urology, and respiratory care.
• Olympus Innovation Ventures invests across stages, from early development to growth, with a global outlook.
• Beyond capital, portfolio companies gain access to clinical expertise, hospital networks, and global scaling support.
• The move strengthens Olympus’s pipeline for partnerships and potential acquisitions.
• Alongside VC investing, Olympus is also advancing robotics innovation through its Swan EndoSurgical Robotics venture.
• The expanded fund signals Olympus’s intent to make startup collaboration a long-term strategic priority, not a side initiative.