North Florida health care market sees wave of private equity and venture-backed startups in 2025 (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — North Florida’s health care footprint is changing as fast as its balance sheets. An array of private equity- and venture-backed startups muscled into the local ecosystem during 2025, a space already flush with longtime health care organizations.
It’s one facet of a well-financed boom where major systems raced to break ground on new towers, renovate aging campuses and expand speciality services, all while investors hunt for scalable models in advanced care.
The result: a market where traditional nonprofit systems now compete with deep-pocketed newcomers.
But health care is more than a service to North Florida.
Already well-established
Hospital systems and medical networks dominate the area’s top employers, anchoring tens of thousands of jobs. In descending order, Mayo Clinic in Florida, Shands Jacksonville Medical Center and GuideWell Mutual Holding Company were this year’s top employers, with 23,844 employees across the trio.
At Mayo Clinic’s Jacksonville campus, the health system unveiled its Duan Family Building in June — a $320 million, 228,000-square-foot advanced cancer treatment facility that, in three years, will house the Western Hemisphere’s first carbon ion therapy program.
Near the downtown core, Baptist Health broke ground on its new $190 million McGehee Family Tower in September (rendering pictured above). Plans unveiled early this year featured two distinctive emergency rooms, waiting areas and patient care rooms comprising 100 emergency rooms in total — 63 for adults and 37 for children, including three pediatric trauma rooms on the first floor.
“Today, we’re not just breaking ground on an emergency tower for adults and children,” said Baptist President and CEO Michael Mayo at the ceremony. “We are building on the future for care for every family in this community and in this region that call it home.”
On the Southside, Brooks Rehabilitation bet big on the future of specialized recovery care, unveiling a $68 million plan Dec. 16, one that will reshape its local footprint. Beginning in the New Year, the plan is led by a $47 million upgrade to its Bartram Campus hospital, located at 6400 Brooks Bartram Drive.
Brooks is also investing $16 million to double the size of Helen’s House, which offers temporary lodging to patients and caregivers who travel for care. The third slice of renovations include a $5.4 million expansion to its Orange Park clinic, with work already underway.
In nearby St. Johns County, Altamonte Springs-headquartered AdventHealth acquired three parcels of land near World Golf Village for $13.14 million in February. Though specific plans for the spot aren’t released yet, it’s part of the non-profit health care system’s push northward.
A month later, the provider broke ground on its standalone ER facility at another location in St. Johns. That project is on almost 11 acres of land, and the first phase is expected to be completed by early 2026, according to an earlier announcement.
New market entries
Backed by millions from New England venture capitalists, a pediatric health care startup entered the Jacksonville market this summer with two clinics. Bluebirds Kids Health, founded by Chris Johnson in 2024, offers a tailored health care experience for specifically children of historically underserved communities.
As of May, Bluebird raised $31.5 million from mission-aligned investors and venture capital firms during its first venture capital raise, co-led by two Boston-area VC firms, F Prime and .406 Ventures, plus a backer in New York called Juxtapose.
Johnson said the money is being used to support both its growth to Jacksonville and build out its technology infrastructure to better support patients and incorporate seamless access to Bluebird’s clinics.
Stepping beyond traditional health care, North Florida entrepreneur Peter Jensen founded a concierge medical company that opened to Ponte Vedra Beach September. Though Jensen founded Able Medical from that frustration with insurance-based primary care, he views it as another facet of health care rather than a complete replacement.
Concierge medicine, otherwise called direct primary care, has seen steady growth in popularity the last few years. The global concierge medicine market was valued at an estimated $20.4 billion last year, according to Precedence Research, and is anticipated to reach $39 billion by 2034. It’s a market dominated by North America, which had 43% of the market share in 2024.
Oftentimes, patients seeking concierge care are coming from a point of pain, Jensen told the Business Journal. In his words, “they’re really looking for another step up the chain.”
Elsewhere in Jacksonville, a New York-founded women’s health care concept opened within HCA Florida Memorial Hospital in October. Founded in 2020 and called Diana Health, the company works with hospitals to remake their women’s health programs and ease pressures on providers to deliver personalized, wellness-focused care programs for women.
Diana Health has raised $101 million to-date, backed by leading investors like HealthQuest Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, .406 Ventures, LRVHealth and AlleyCorp. In September, the company announced a $55 million Series C round to help scale its physical footprint.
From new constructions and renovations to new market entries, 2025 was a year of investment signaling more than growth. They mark a transformation that will test whether profit-driven strategies can coexist with community health priorities in the years ahead.
Rendering of Baptist Health’s planned four-story emergency tower courtesy of HOEFER WELKER