Chirag Shah
Partner at define-ventures
Reviewed Updated Aug 30, 2026This profile is AI-generated. If you spot an error, please help us fix it by sharing a URL to the correct information.
Background
Chirag Shah is a Partner at Define Ventures, a San Francisco Bay Area digital-health specialist firm founded in January 2020 by Lynne Chou O’Keefe 12. According to Define Ventures’ team page, Shah’s professional background spans investment banking, private equity, and health-tech operations: he began his career in Media and Telecom Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley, then joined The Carlyle Group in Healthcare Buyout, and later moved into operating roles in Strategic Analytics at Castlight Health (NYSE: CSLT) and in Strategy, Analytics, and Product leadership at Imagine Health 1.
Shah initially pursued medicine before redirecting toward the broader healthcare ecosystem, and holds a B.S. in Finance with a pre-med curriculum from New York University 1. His self-described focus is the intersection of technology and the self-funded employer benefits space, informed by his time at Castlight (an employer-focused health-tech company) and Imagine Health (a direct-to-employer health network) 1.
Stated Thesis
Define Ventures publicly positions itself as a specialist firm investing across “incubation, seed, Series A, and Series B” stages in digital health, framed around three pillars: “Unrivaled Expertise,” “Enduring Partnership,” and “Principled Approach” 2. The firm’s site states: “the future of healthcare will be defined by those who bring together a deep understanding of the healthcare ecosystem paired with a technology-driven mindset” 2.
On Shah’s individual team page, Define Ventures describes his personal filter as being drawn to entrepreneurs with “overwhelming passion for improving our healthcare system” 1. His stated areas of interest include analytics, product strategy, and the employer benefits space — the domains where he has operated 1.
Define Ventures publicly categorizes his role as an investment Partner alongside Michael Wert, working with Managing Partner Lynne Chou O’Keefe and a small principal team (Hong Truong, Chuka Esiobu, Garrett Howard) plus Venture Partners Bruce Broussard, Frank Williams, and Carolyn Magill 3.
Inferred Thesis
Sample size caveat. Define Ventures does not publicly attribute specific deals to individual Partners on its website, and Shah has not been named as the lead investor in any contemporaneous press release identified during this research. The analysis below therefore reflects Shah’s role as one of two Partners at a firm whose portfolio and stated focus are public.
Sector: exclusively digital health. Every publicly listed Define Ventures portfolio company operates in healthcare technology, including Hims & Hers (NYSE: HIMS), Unite Us, Cohere Health, FOLX Health, Waltz Health, and Blackbird Health 2456. Shah’s stated focus on the employer benefits space aligns with several portfolio companies serving self-funded employers.
Stage: seed through Series B. The firm invests from incubation through Series B and manages roughly $800M across six funds as of April 2023, when it closed Fund III and an Opportunities Fund totaling $460M 45. Shah’s Partner role covers early-stage checks; the Opportunities Fund handles growth-stage follow-ons in existing portfolio companies 4.
Behavior: firm as active board participant. Define Ventures’ Managing Partner takes lead-investor board seats on companies she personally sources (DexCare, 9amHealth, Concert Health, Hims & Hers) 7. Public sources do not identify which portfolio boards, if any, Shah sits on; profiles will be updated if primary sources emerge.
Founder pattern signal. Define publicly claims that “72% of their portfolio companies have customers within their coalition of major healthcare organizations” and that the firm has placed “senior talent, board members, or advisors at 2 in 3 portfolio companies” 2. This platform-heavy model is consistent with Shah’s operator background across two enterprise health-tech companies.
Analysis reflects the firm’s publicly listed portfolio at the time of research; deal-level attribution to Shah could not be verified from primary sources.
Portfolio
Because Define Ventures does not publicly attribute individual investments to specific Partners, the table below lists Define Ventures portfolio companies where Shah is presumed to have been an active team member (during his tenure as Partner). Deal-level source attribution to Shah personally is not available.
| Company | Year | Stage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hims & Hers (HIMS) | ~2018 (founding proxy) | Growth via Fund | 25 |
| Unite Us | ~2013 (founding proxy) | Growth via Fund | 2 |
| Cohere Health | ~2019 (founding proxy) | Growth via Fund | 2 |
| FOLX Health | ~2020 (founding proxy) | Incubated | 2 |
| Waltz Health | 2022 | $35M announced round | 8 |
| Blackbird Health | 2024 | $17M round | 9 |
This table is limited to companies Define Ventures publicly claims on its firm materials 2. It represents a partial view of the ~21 companies the firm’s Managing Partner has publicly discussed 7, and it is not attributed to Shah individually.
In Their Own Words
Define Ventures attributes the following framing to Shah on his team-page bio: he is drawn to founders with “overwhelming passion for improving our healthcare system” and applies his experience across “analytics, product strategy, and the employer benefits space” to support portfolio companies 1.
No independently sourced first-person interviews or public speaking transcripts attributable to Shah were located during this research. His publicly available voice is limited to the Define Ventures site bio.
What Founders Say
No independently sourced founder testimonials specifically attributable to Chirag Shah were found. Define Ventures’ website hosts founder-CEO testimonials that credit the firm generally (e.g., Andrew Dudum of Hims & Hers, Dan Brillman of Unite Us, Liana Guzman of FOLX Health), but those quotes do not name Shah individually 2.
Sources
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Define Ventures, “Team — Chirag Shah.” Accessed August 2026. https://www.definevc.com/team/chirag-shah↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Define Ventures, homepage and “About.” Accessed August 2026. https://www.definevc.com/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Define Ventures, “Team.” Accessed August 2026. https://www.definevc.com/team↩
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Katie Jennings, “Define Ventures Raises $460 Million For Early-Stage Digital Health Investments,” Forbes, April 18, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiejennings/2023/04/18/define-ventures-raises-460-million-for-early-stage-digital-health-investments/↩↩↩
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Business Insider, “The Founder of a Healthcare Venture Fund that Just Raised $200 Million Shares Why She Wants to Back Founders That Are Building Businesses for Their Communities,” January 14, 2021. https://www.businessinsider.com/exclusive-define-ventures-just-raised-200-million-for-second-fund-2021-↩↩↩
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Define Ventures, “News” page listing (portfolio press coverage). Accessed August 2026. https://www.definevc.com/news↩
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Seedlist, “Lynne Chou O’Keefe” profile (internal cross-reference synthesizing Define Ventures’ publicly claimed portfolio and behavior). ↩↩
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Katie Jennings, “With $35 Million In Funding, Waltz Health Aims To Lower Drug Prices Working With – Not Against – The System,” Forbes, April 27, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiejennings/2022/04/26/with-35-million-in-funding-waltz-health-aims-to-lower-drug-prices-working-with–not-against–the-system/↩
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Seth Joseph, “Blackbird Health Nests A Fresh $17 Million To Become The Gold Standard In Precision Mental Healthcare,” Forbes, February 21, 2024. https://www.forbes.com/sites/sethjoseph/2024/02/21/blackbird-health-nests-a-fresh-17-million-to-become-the-gold-standard-in-precision-mental-healthcare/↩