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June 5, 2024

First lady Annie Lamont named to Forbes’ 2024 Midas List

By Andrew Larson

Connecticut’s first lady, Annie Lamont, was named to Forbes’ 2024 Midas List, a ranking of the world’s top tech investors.

Lamont, who co-founded the Greenwich-based investment firm Oak HC/FT in 2014, ranked No. 86 on the list, released Tuesday. It was her fifth time appearing on the list, but her first time since 2015. 

Forbes credited her with making early bets in the healthcare and fintech space, including a roughly 20x return from her 2001 initial investment in AthenaHealth, when the company was sold to two private equity firms 20 years later.

She also invested in an AthenaHealth co-founder’s later venture, Devoted Health, now valued at $12.9 billion. Her initial $20 million investment is now worth $1 billion to her and her backers at Oak HC/FT, according to Forbes.

Lamont also made early bets on primary care provider VillageMD and prepaid debit card provider NetSpend.

Lamont said the secret to her sustained success is “an ability to spot and embrace new tech cycles,” the publication reported.

Oak HC/FT is only the latest chapter in her more than 40-year investment career.

She began working as a paralegal at a small law firm after graduating from college in 1979, but quit after six months and took a job at a small venture capital firm in the Silicon Valley, according to Forbes. 

Later, she joined Oak Investment Partners and established its life sciences and healthcare arm. As the internet gained traction, she pivoted to investing in tech-based health care services by 2000.

She appeared on the Midas List for the first time in 2008.

Forbes said her inclusion reflects “the long game approach that Lamont takes to startup investing.”

“It is not about being a one-hit wonder in venture. It is about reinventing yourself across different cycles,” Lamont told the publication.

Recently, Lamont has backed healthcare companies that are focused on generative AI, including Notable, which provides automation tools for patient check-ins and authorizations, and Trovo Health, which sells AI assistants for clinicians.

Lamont told Forbes that she believes AI, deployed thoughtfully and responsibly, could reduce healthcare administrative costs, increase physician productivity and improve patient outcomes.

Oak HC/FT has $5.3 billion in assets. 

Forbes estimates Lamont’s net worth at $650 million, ranking her tied for No. 54 on the Self-Made Women List in May.

She is the wife of Gov. Ned Lamont, who was elected in 2019.

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