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Family offices are increasingly influencing the MedTech investment space, bringing not only capital but also long-term vision and a personal connection to healthcare innovation. Ahead of MedTech Malta 2025, MedTech World spoke with Dr. Laurent Pacheco, Managing Partner of the International Family Offices Alliance for Health (IFOAH), about his journey, the evolving role of family offices in healthcare, and what to expect from the upcoming panel he will be moderating in Malta.
The International Family Offices Alliance for Health (IFOAH) is a global community of family offices dedicated to advancing healthcare through investment. The Alliance is a community where its members build relationships, share insights, and collaborate on solutions to some of the most pressing health challenges worldwide.
“As a medical doctor, healthcare has always been at the center of my interests,” Dr. Pacheco explains. “Over the years, I became increasingly drawn to MedTech. The speed of innovation, the diversity of business models, and its ability to address unmet medical needs make it one of the most fascinating areas in healthcare today.”
Many IFOAH members share this passion. Some are former MedTech entrepreneurs who have successfully exited their companies, while others are driven by the opportunity to make both a financial and societal impact.
Family offices, Dr. Pacheco notes, have a unique agility when it comes to investing. “I am always impressed by how quickly family offices can pivot from one industry to another and build expertise,” he says. “Often, their interest in MedTech is rooted in personal experiences, making their commitment very genuine.”
One key feature of the MedTech industry is its potential to offer a faster path to ROI compared to other healthcare segments.
“MedTech offers a wide spectrum of opportunities, from AI-powered solutions to consumer devices and interventional medicine,” Dr. Pacheco highlights. “This versatility is part of what makes the sector so attractive.”
When it comes to balancing risk with long-term impact, family offices often adopt a different approach than VCs. Unlike traditional venture capital funds, family offices are not tied to rigid timelines for returns; they can afford to take a longer perspective,” Dr. Pacheco explains. This flexibility allows them to support technologies that may need longer to mature, and Family offices may reinvest to support companies beyond initial expectations: they’re often more willing to give technologies time to prove their value.”
This perspective opens the door for innovations that might otherwise be overlooked, particularly in areas where MedTech can complement or outperform traditional biopharma or surgical approaches. Promising fields include respiratory medicine, urology, and neurology, where MedTech interventions are gaining ground.
With members from across the world, IFOAH takes pride in bringing diverse perspectives to the table. Local insights help identify unmet needs and investment opportunities, while global priorities ensure alignment with broader public health goals.
Impact is central to the Alliance’s investment philosophy. “It’s not just about financial return,” Dr. Pacheco stresses. “It’s about advancing medical science and making a real difference for patients.”
Regulatory foresight also plays a role in decision-making. While stringent oversight is critical for certain high-risk technologies, lighter regulatory pathways may be perfectly acceptable for others. The key is adaptability.
Dr. Pacheco first joined MedTech Malta in 2024 and was immediately impressed by the quality of participants and the openness of discussions. In 2025, he will moderate a panel exploring how family offices engage with healthcare and how they differ from other investor groups.
“The question we want to tackle is: Family offices in healthcare—how different?,” he says. “We want to open the black box, clarify what family offices are really looking for, and help entrepreneurs understand how best to approach them.”
Dr. Pacheco expects lively exchanges during the session, particularly around his favourite question for panellists: “If you, a family office, were in the shoes of an entrepreneur, how would you approach your family office?”
For him, MedTech Malta is a meeting ground that levels the playing field. “Here, everyone is equal, regardless of background or title. That’s what makes collaboration possible, and in long-term partnerships, culture fit often matters just as much as financial or scientific considerations.”
For MedTech founders seeking to engage with family offices, Dr. Pacheco’s advice is simple but vital: do your homework. “Understand what drives the family office, what triggered their interest in MedTech, and what success looks like for them,” he emphasises. “Yes, financial returns matter, but they’re often looking for something more.”
He also believes the broader conversation between capital and innovation needs to evolve.
“Too often, it’s treated as a one-way due diligence process,” he reflects. “It should be a two-way dynamics: Investors take a lot of time to dig in an investment opportunity to really understand its potential from A to Z; there is room for innovators to invest further time and effort to understand as well potential investors: the best way to make the match happen.”
The Alliance is expanding rapidly, with members actively contributing to its growth. Looking ahead, Dr. Pacheco envisions forming sub-communities focused on specific disease areas or healthcare segments. Collaborations with leading universities, like a recent event with Cambridge University, and potential partnerships with public health authorities are also on the horizon.
“Our members’ commitment is proof that the Alliance brings real value—not just for investors, but for the healthcare ecosystem as a whole,” he concludes.
Join Dr. Laurent Pacheco and leading voices in healthcare investment at MedTech Malta 2025, where family offices, innovators, and industry leaders come together to explore the future of MedTech.
