Healthcare Investors & Operators

Strategic capital and operating expertise for healthcare companies ready to scale.

RAB Ventures makes controlling and strategic investments in healthcare services, technology, and value-based care — pairing flexible capital with four decades of operating experience to help management teams build market-leading businesses.

Our Approach Get in Touch
Track Record

Four decades building, operating, and investing in healthcare.

RAB Ventures is led by Richard Barasch, who has spent more than 40 years in healthcare as an operator, public-company CEO, and investor. His career has spanned managed care, value-based care, provider services, and healthcare technology — including building and selling a Fortune 500 health insurer and leading multiple healthcare SPACs to successful public combinations.

1995 — 2017
Universal American Corp.
Chief Executive Officer of the publicly-traded health insurance and services company focused on the senior market and government programs. Led the company from 1995 through its acquisition by WellCare Health Plans in May 2017.
2017 — 2024
DFB Healthcare → AdaptHealth (SPAC)
Founder, Chairman & CEO of DFB Healthcare Acquisitions Corp., a blank check company that raised $250M in its 2018 IPO and acquired AdaptHealth Corp. (Nasdaq: AHCO) in 2019. Since the combination, AdaptHealth has grown revenue from approximately $530M to over $3.2 billion and Adjusted EBITDA to nearly $700M. Served as Chairman until June 2024.
2019 — 2025
DFP Healthcare → The Oncology Institute (SPAC)
Co-founder and Executive Chairman of DFP Healthcare Acquisitions Corp., a blank check company that raised $230M in its 2020 IPO and acquired The Oncology Institute (Nasdaq: TOI) in 2021. Served as Chairman until August 2025; revenue grew 25.4% annually since the combination. Now Starling Oncology (Nasdaq: STLN).
2017 — Present
RAB Ventures
Founded to invest in and help build healthcare services, technology, and value-based care companies — as both a majority owner and a minority investor. Since 2017, Richard has served as a board member and strategic partner to management teams across the portfolio.
Approach

Majority owners. Hands-on operators.

We target control investments in healthcare businesses where our operating experience and capital can drive meaningful value creation. We also invest selectively as a minority partner and in structured credit when the situation calls for it.

  • Majority buyouts and control platforms.
    We target controlling positions in healthcare businesses where our operating experience, board presence, and capital can drive meaningful, long-term value creation.
  • Minority and structured investments.
    Selective growth equity, preferred equity, convertibles, and credit alongside our control mandate — structured around the needs of the business and its stakeholders.
  • Long-term healthcare operating experience.
    Perspective informed by four decades of work across healthcare services, managed care, value-based care, and healthcare technology — as both operators and investors.
Capabilities

What we bring to the table

Our approach is grounded in long-term partnership, strategic capital, and decades of healthcare operating experience.

i.

Flexible Structuring

Growth equity, credit, preferred equity, convertibles, secondaries, and PIPEs structured around the needs of the business and stakeholder group.

ii.

Healthcare Expertise

Decades of experience across healthcare services, payors, value-based care, and healthcare technology — both as operators and investors.

iii.

Operational & Strategic Partnership

Hands-on support for healthcare companies navigating periods of growth, transition, and complexity — helping management teams solve immediate challenges while positioning the business for its next stage.

Investment Focus

Where we invest.

We primarily target controlling positions in healthcare businesses that have achieved product-market fit and are approaching profitability or generating scaled earnings. We also invest selectively as a minority partner where our operating experience and network create meaningful value.

Additional capital, operational support, or balance sheet flexibility — paired with an experienced board partner — can unlock long-term growth at each of these stages.

Sectors
Healthcare services, healthcare technology, payors, provider enablement, and value-based care.
Situations
Majority buyouts, growth capital, recapitalizations, structured equity, refinancings, and shareholder liquidity.
Structures
Control and majority equity, minority equity, preferred equity, convertible structures, and credit investments.
Portfolio

Selected healthcare investments.

Arbiter
AI-enabled care operations platform
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Cadence Medical Group
Geriatric psychiatry care for skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and acute care facilities
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Cecelia Health
Virtual specialty care for cardiometabolic conditions
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Cityblock Health
Community-based care delivery platform
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Empassion Health
Serious illness and palliative care platform
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Frontier Direct Care
Employer-sponsored direct primary care
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HouseWorks
Personal home care for seniors
Partially realized
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Starling Oncology
Value-based community oncology
Partially realized
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Realized investments

Selected realized investments.

i.
AdaptHealth (Nasdaq: AHCO)
Home medical equipment provider. Public listing completed through a RAB-led SPAC.
ii.
Quest Analytics
Provider network management software for health plans and regulators.
iii.
ELMC Risk Solutions
Specialty MGU for medical stop-loss insurance. Sold to NSM Insurance Group.
iv.
Cylinder Health
Clinician-led virtual digestive health platform.
Leadership

Our leadership.

Richard Barasch
Richard Barasch
Founder
LinkedIn →
Healthcare executive and investor with more than 40 years of experience across managed care, value-based care, provider services, and healthcare technology. In addition to his professional achievements, Richard is a member of the Advisory Board of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and is chair of the National Advisory Board of the Health Policy and Management program at Mailman.

Richard is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Columbia University Law School, where he was an Editor of the Law Review.
Avi Rafalson
Avi Rafalson
Principal
LinkedIn →
Principal at RAB Ventures, focusing on transaction origination, deal structuring, and portfolio management. Most recently served as CFO of MyndYou, a private equity–backed healthcare AI company, from 2024 until its sale in November 2025. Prior to MyndYou, he spent five years in progressive finance leadership roles within UnitedHealth Group's OptumCare subsidiary. Earlier career in Alvarez & Marsal's Healthcare Industry Group and BBVA's syndicated finance group. B.B.A. in Corporate Finance and Investment Banking from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.

Get in touch.

We welcome conversations with founders, operators, and intermediaries working with healthcare businesses navigating growth and transition.

contact@rab.ventures