David Singer

Reviewed Updated Mar 18, 2026

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Managing Partner of Maverick Ventures and serial founder (Affymetrix, Corcept Therapeutics, Genesoft all IPOs). Portfolio of 15 verified investments (of 100+ total) skews 67% healthcare/health tech, 20% enterprise software. Known for 12-year board tenure at One Medical (Amazon acquisition, $3.9B), primary care focus, and hands-on partnership approach. Named to Forbes Midas List 2023-2025.

Location San Francisco, CA

Check Size $1M-$20M

Last Verified Investment Nourish (Series B) — 2025

Social LinkedIn

Stage Focus

seed series-a series-b

Sector Focus

healthcare enterprise ai e-commerce

Background

David B. Singer is Managing Partner of Maverick Ventures, the early-stage venture arm of Maverick Capital, the hedge fund founded by Tiger Cub Lee Ainslie in 1993 ¹. Singer joined Maverick Capital in 2004 to lead its private investment activities, and was named Managing Partner of Maverick Ventures when the fund was formally separated from the hedge fund’s balance sheet in 2015 ²³.

Before joining Maverick, Singer had a career as a serial founder and operator in life sciences and healthcare technology. He co-founded and served as CEO of Affymetrix, Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFX), a genomics tools company, and co-founded Corcept Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CORT), a pharmaceutical company. He also served as CEO of Genesoft Pharmaceuticals, the predecessor to Oscient Pharmaceuticals ⁴⁵. All three companies went public. Earlier in his career Singer worked at Goldman Sachs and Baxter International, and served as SVP and CFO of Heartport Inc. ⁵.

Singer earned a B.A. from Yale University, where he is a Sterling Fellow, and an M.B.A. from Stanford University, where he is a Lecturer at the Graduate School of Business ⁴⁶. He has also served as Vice President of the San Francisco Health Commission (appointed July 2013) and as Vice Chair of College Track, a nonprofit supporting college completion for underserved students ⁵⁷.

As of 2026, Singer has served on the boards of 28 private companies, including seven that went public during his tenure ⁷. He was named to Forbes’ Midas List of the world’s best venture capital investors in 2023, 2024, and 2025 ⁷⁹.

Stated Thesis

Maverick Ventures publicly describes its focus as partnering with “exceptional founders solving critical healthcare challenges and building enterprise infrastructure from inception through IPO” ⁸. The firm states it backs “a few teams per year” as a deliberate strategy to serve as deeply engaged partners ⁸.

Singer and the firm have stated a belief that the most significant opportunity in healthcare is in primary care: the best way to save money in the health care system is to focus on primary care physicians that are accustomed to taking on clinical and financial risk in preventative medicine ⁸. This thesis led to early investments in companies like One Medical and Cityblock Health ⁸.

In a 2025 Fortune interview, Singer described the firm’s hands-on approach: “We think about this as a full-contact sport. Once we invest, we’re in it.” ¹ He characterized the relationship between Maverick Ventures and Maverick Capital’s hedge fund as beneficial because the hedge fund’s analysts are “long-term investors…trying to put together a mosaic of what the hell’s going on” — providing sector intelligence to the venture team ¹.

The firm’s stated sectors are healthcare technology (primary care, health insurance, clinical operations, mental health, maternal care, drug delivery, healthcare data and AI) and enterprise AI/software (workflow automation, developer tools, quantum computing, cybersecurity) ⁸.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 15 verified portfolio investments (a partial view of Maverick Ventures’ reported 100+ total portfolio companies), the following patterns emerge. Given the small sample relative to total portfolio size, qualitative descriptions are more reliable than precise percentages.

Sector distribution (15 verified investments): - Healthcare / health tech: 10 of 15 (67%) — One Medical, Devoted Health, Cityblock Health, BioCatch (health-adjacent fraud prevention), Centivo, Garner Health, Nourish, Oula Health, Castlight Health, Pacific Biosciences - Enterprise software / AI: 3 of 15 (20%) — MosaicML (acquired by Databricks 2023), Retool (listed as portfolio by firm), Infleqtion - Consumer / e-commerce: 2 of 15 (13%) — Hims & Hers, Coupang

Stage distribution: Singer’s investments span seed through Series B. Confirmed seed-stage entries include Hims & Hers and Cityblock Health. Several larger companies (One Medical, Devoted Health) received early-stage investment before significant growth rounds. The firm’s stated sweet spot is seed through Series B ⁸.

Geographic focus: Predominantly US-based companies (San Francisco Bay Area and New York City weighted), with one notable exception in Coupang (South Korea), where Maverick became the first institutional investor ³.

Founder profile patterns: Singer’s operator background as a three-time founding CEO is reflected in portfolio company selection. The firm demonstrably backs mission-driven healthcare founders with clinical or scientific depth — Pacific Biosciences (DNA sequencing), Devoted Health (Medicare Advantage), Cityblock Health (Medicaid, value-based care) all require deep domain expertise. Singer’s board service at One Medical began in September 2011 and continued through the $3.9 billion Amazon acquisition in 2023 — a 12-year board relationship ².

Check size: Firm publicly states $1M–$20M range, with seed stage entries at $1M–$5M and Series A at $5M–$20M+ ⁸.

Notable pattern not in stated thesis: While the stated thesis emphasizes healthcare, two of the firm’s largest exits by value were non-healthcare: Coupang (Korean e-commerce, IPO 2021) and MosaicML (AI infrastructure, $1.3B acquisition by Databricks 2023). This suggests selective opportunistic investment in high-conviction technology bets outside core healthcare focus.

Sample size caveat: This analysis is based on 15 of 100+ reported Maverick Ventures portfolio companies. Sector and stage percentages should be treated as directional only.

Portfolio

Company	Stage	Year	Sector	Status
Pacific Biosciences	Early Stage	~2007	Genomics / Life Sciences	Public (NASDAQ: PACB) ¹⁰
Castlight Health	Series C	2010	Healthcare Data	Public (NYSE: CSLT) ¹¹
One Medical	Early Stage	~2011	Primary Care	Acquired by Amazon ($3.9B, 2023) ¹²
Coupang	Early Stage	~2014	E-commerce (South Korea)	Public (NYSE: CPNG) ³
BioCatch	Series B (lead)	2018	Cybersecurity / Behavioral Biometrics	Acquired by Permira ($1.3B, 2024) ¹³
Centivo	Series A	2018	Value-Based Health Plans	Active ¹⁴
Cityblock Health	Series A (lead)	2018	Medicaid / Value-Based Care	Active ¹⁵
Devoted Health	Early Stage	~2018	Medicare Advantage	Active ¹⁹
Hims & Hers	Series B	2018	Consumer Health	Public (NYSE: HIMS) ¹⁹
Seer	Seed	~2019	Proteomics	Public (NASDAQ: SEER) ¹⁹
Notable Health	Seed	~2020	Healthcare AI / Automation	Active ¹⁹
Garner Health	Series A	2021	Provider Quality / Benefits	Active ¹⁶
MosaicML	Early Stage	~2021	AI / ML Infrastructure	Acquired by Databricks ($1.3B, 2023) ¹⁹
Oula Health	Series B (co-lead)	2024	Maternal Care	Active ¹⁷
Nourish	Series A / Series B	2024–2025	Telenutrition	Active ¹⁸

In Their Own Words

On Maverick’s investment approach and the relationship with Maverick Capital (Fortune, March 2025):

“We think about this as a full-contact sport. Once we invest, we’re in it.” ¹

On the value of the hedge fund connection (Fortune, March 2025):

“Because [Maverick Capital] is such long-term investors, they’re trying to put together a mosaic of what the hell’s going on. This is marginally helpful a lot of the time.” ¹

On the healthcare investment thesis, as articulated in firm materials (f4.fund / Maverick Ventures website):

Maverick Ventures has stated publicly that primary care represents “a tiny 6–7% of total healthcare spend for Medicare beneficiaries yet is understood throughout the industry to be both the point of patient frustration and a key to better health” — which the firm cites as the core rationale for early investments in One Medical and Cityblock Health ⁸.

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Maverick Ventures does not publish founder testimonials on its website, and no attributed quotes from portfolio founders specifically about working with David Singer were located during this research.