Family office investment activity remained subdued in November despite the typical year-end uptick seen on Wall Street. New data from Fintrx, shared with CNBC, shows that ultra-wealthy investment firms completed 55 direct deals during the month, a slight decline from October and 37.5 percent lower than the same period last year. The slowdown reflects the broader environment shaped by tariff uncertainty and geopolitical tensions.
One notable exception was Jeff Bezos’ family office, Bezos Expeditions, which remained active. The firm participated in at least four deals in November, including a co-led USD 106 million round for Profluent, a biotech company using generative AI for gene editing.
Other billionaire-backed family offices also continued to channel capital into AI-driven health technologies. Aglaé Ventures, the investment arm of Bernard Arnault, joined a USD 298 million Series B round for Function Health, a company focused on continuous lab testing for early disease detection. Roku founder Anthony Wood and former NBA player Blake Griffin were among the additional investors.
John Doerr’s Foris Group, together with Kleiner Perkins, backed Hippocratic AI in a USD 126 million fundraise. The company, now valued at USD 3.5 billion, builds AI agents that provide nondiagnostic support such as medication reminders and post-surgery follow-ups. Azim Premji’s family office also participated in the round.
The activity aligns with broader sentiment among global family offices. UBS reports that 65 percent of surveyed offices see pharmaceuticals and biotechnology as leading beneficiaries of AI, second only to financial services. Health-care equipment and services follow closely, with 62 percent citing them. Nearly half of respondents already hold health-tech and innovation assets in their portfolios.
Despite warning of an AI bubble during an October panel, Bezos suggested that genuine scientific progress would outlast any correction, drawing a parallel to the biotech boom of the 1990s. Once the market stabilises, he argued, society continues to benefit from the resulting breakthroughs.
