Mike Mortimer is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of GHO Capital, Europe's leading specialist investor in healthcare. Founded in 2014 with partners Alan MacKay and Andrea Ponti, GHO has grown from a first time fund of €660 million to a fourth fund of €2.5 billion, with €9 billion in AUM and a team of 75+ professionals spanning biopharma, medtech, health tech and life science tools. Scott and Mike go back to GHO's debut fundraise, making this a particularly candid conversation about what it really takes to build a specialist firm that endures.
In this episode, Mike traces the founding vision behind GHO, built on the conviction that healthcare was a global endeavour being served by firms thinking locally. We explore how GHO navigated a global pandemic, the current wave of regulatory and geopolitical uncertainty, and why Mike believes sustained profitable growth is the only strategy that holds up regardless of what the market throws at you. Mike also shares a remarkably honest take on people decisions, succession planning and what he would tell his fund one self today.
Key themes from this conversation:
- Why GHO saw a global opportunity others were missing in 2014
- How the pandemic tested and ultimately validated their investment philosophy
- The role of technical expertise and deep networks in winning founder trust
- Building a we culture not a me culture across 18 nationalities
- Why GHO deliberately stays in the mid market and sells to the big guys rather than competing with them
- Succession planning done right, transparency with LPs and building a firm that outlives its founders
- The people decision Mike wishes he had made faster
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