Announcing Surgo Ventures!

Spinoff of Surgo Foundation led by CEO Sema Sgaier and Board of Directors Mala Gaonkar, Malcolm Gladwell, Bill Helman IV, and Peter Piot

The co-founders of Surgo Foundation, Mala Gaonkar and Sema Sgaier, announced today that they have spun off an independent nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization called Surgo Ventures.

With headquarters in Washington, DC and a hub in the UK, Surgo Ventures is dedicated to solving health and social problems with precision. Surgo Ventures will take all of the insights and tools developed by Surgo Foundation over the past five years, and scale them for even greater impact.

Surgo Ventures will be led by Co-Founder and CEO Sema Sgaier, and governed by a Board of Directors including Co-Founder and Chair Mala Gaonkar, Malcolm Gladwell, Bill Helman IV, and Peter Piot. Surgo Foundation will continue to exist as Mala Gaonkar’s private family foundation.

In 2015, Gaonakar and Sgaier co-founded Surgo Foundation with the goal of bringing a customer-driven approach to global health. Surgo Foundation was an important experiment. They wanted to test a hypothesis: Could multidisciplinary thinking + data and behavioral science + smart tools + a customer-centric approach lead to more precise solutions and better results?

After five years, they could tell that the Surgo Foundation experiment was a success, having generated a robust portfolio of results in maternal and child health, tuberculosis care, COVID-19 pandemic response, and more.

Surgo Ventures was launched to sustain and amplify this legacy of delivering impact for the public good, continuing to play the “action tank” role that Surgo Foundation has been known for, while focusing on implementing precise, targeted, practical solutions around the world.

Surgo Ventures will seek strategic partnerships with other nonprofits and global health policy stakeholders, as well as investments and grants from private foundations, individuals, and corporate partners.

Surgo Ventures will work globally; in the United States, the United Kingdom, and in low- and middle-income countries on issues like COVID-19, tuberculosis, maternal and child health, housing, and more.

Visit www.SurgoVentures.org to learn more.