Jean Nehme
Partner, Qubit Health Capital; Angel Investor at qubit-health-capital
Reviewed Updated Aug 4, 2026This profile is AI-generated. If you spot an error, please help us fix it by sharing a URL to the correct information.
Background
Jean Nehme is a London-based healthcare technology entrepreneur turned angel investor and partner at Qubit Health Capital 12. He grew up in London and studied at Imperial College, where he covered pathology, biology, and medical science before working as a junior doctor in the emergency department 1. A now-widely-recounted needlestick injury on his first shift — self-inflicted while drawing blood from a patient — required emergency prophylactic treatment and is a story Nehme has attached to his personal narrative about how clinical medicine’s operational fragility motivated him to build software for surgeons 1.
Nehme is the co-founder and former CEO of Digital Surgery (originally Touch Surgery), a London-based surgical AI, data, and training platform. The company raised more than $90M across its lifetime from investors including Balderton Capital, 8VC, Upscale, Blueprint Health, Episode 1, Redline Capital, and Ballpark Ventures 34. Digital Surgery was acquired by medical-device giant Medtronic in 2020 in what the healthtech press characterized as one of the sector’s largest deals to date 45. Nehme continued at Medtronic as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships for a period after the deal 6.
Since the acquisition Nehme has been an active angel investor in health and wellness startups, primarily writing pre-seed and seed checks in the $5K–$50K range with a preferred check of ~$25K 2. He operates out of London and is listed as a partner at Qubit Health Capital 2.
Stated Thesis
Public materials describe Nehme’s investing focus as healthtech and digital wellness at pre-seed and seed stage, with sub-focus areas listed as biotech, healthcare data, algorithms, data visualization, and big data 2. Beyond broad category labels, no long-form public statement of his investing philosophy could be located during this research pass.
Inferred Thesis
Based on 6 publicly verified angel investments (small sample — qualitative only, no percentages 2):
- Sector: All 6 verified checks are in healthcare or wellness — Mindstep (mental health), WONE / Walking on Earth (workplace wellness), Ufonia (voice AI for clinical care), Plexāā / BLOOM (skin health devices), Shift Bioscience (aging biotech), Uncovr (health startup, 2026). This is a fully coherent healthtech portfolio and matches his operator background.
- Stage: All observed rounds are pre-seed, seed, or angel — no growth-stage exposure surfaced.
- Geography: UK-heavy with US crossover. WONE is US-founded; Mindstep and Ufonia are UK-based.
- Co-investor pattern: Nehme repeatedly appears alongside Charlie Songhurst (former Microsoft strategy head, prolific London angel) and, on WONE specifically, Mandeep Singh (Andreessen Horowitz), Harry Hurst (Pipeline Capital Partners / Pipe founder), Rebecca Hunt (Octopus Ventures), and Tania Boler (Elvie founder) 2. The co-investor list is skewed toward London operators and US healthtech-adjacent investors.
- Check size: Small-check angel (~$25K sweet spot), not lead-sized.
Portfolio
| Company | Year | Stage | Sector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mindstep | 2021-12-10 | Seed (~£325K round with Kindred Capital’s Mark Evans, Sabbatical Ventures’ Mitchell Kaye, Nate Dalton) | Mental health / digital therapeutics | 7 |
| Ufonia | 2020-10 | Angel | Voice AI for clinical follow-up | 2 |
| WONE (Walking on Earth) | 2021-07 | Pre-Seed ($4M round) | Workplace wellness | 2 |
| Plexāā (BLOOM) | ~2022 (angel) | Angel | Skin health device | 2 |
| Shift Bioscience | ~2022 (angel) | Angel | Aging biology | 2 |
| Uncovr | 2026-06 | Seed ($7M round) | Health / wellness | 2 |
This is a 6-company verified sample. Aggregator profiles suggest additional investments exist that could not be independently verified in this pass.
In Their Own Words
No independently verified long-form quotes were located during this research pass. The Alejandro Cremades/Startup Fundraising interview appears truncated in the fetched version and did not surface direct-quote text usable under Seedlist verbatim rules 1. A follow-up pass with podcast transcript access is recommended.
What Founders Say
No independently sourced founder testimonials found at this time.
Sources
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Alejandro Cremades / Startup Fundraising, “Jean Nehme On Raising $90 Million Before Achieving One Of The Largest Acquisitions in Healthcare Tech,” accessed August 2026. https://startupfundraising.com/library/articles/jean-nehme↩↩↩↩
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Signal by NFX, “Jean Nehme’s Investing Profile — WONE (Walking on Earth) Angel,” accessed August 2026. https://signal.nfx.com/investors/jean-nehme↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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The961, “This Lebanese Surgeon Just Sold His Startup For $500 Million,” accessed August 2026. https://the961.com/lebanese-surgeon-startup-500-million/↩
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Blog Baladi, “Digital Surgery, Co-Founded by Lebanese Dr. Jean Nehme, Acquired by Medical Technology Leader Medtronic,” accessed August 2026. https://blogbaladi.com/digital-surgery-co-founded-by-lebanese-dr-jean-nehme-acquired-by-medical-technology-leader-medtronic/↩↩
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Medium / Kin + Carta, “Touch Surgery’s Jean Nehme: Digital Technology is Actually Making Healthcare More Human,” Colette Balaam, accessed August 2026. https://medium.com/kin-and-carta/touch-surgery-jean-nehme-making-healthcare-more-human-141560654593↩
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Crunchbase person profile, “Jean Nehme — Vice President Strategic Partnerships @ Medtronic,” accessed August 2026. https://www.crunchbase.com/person/jean-nehme↩
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Capsule Cover, “Case Study: Teaming Up With A Healthtech Company To Support Mental Health — Mindstep,” accessed August 2026. https://capsulecover.com/blog/case-study-mindstep↩