About Us
We are a firm built by seasoned investors and operators
People with unique stories drive what we do
Here's our beginning
Tara Bishop and Eileen Tanghal met 30 years ago while studying at MIT. There, they became roommates, classmates, and close friends. After graduating from MIT, Tara received her M.D. at Cornell University and Eileen worked as an engineer, before attending London Business School for her MBA.
They kept in close contact in the proceeding years as they embarked on various personal and professional journeys. Tara became the Medical Director at McKinsey and later Chief Medical Officer for Bind Benefits, a UnitedHealthcare subsidiary. She gained deep insight into working both with and for startups. Eileen spent years working in venture from ARM Holdings and Applied Materials, to becoming Managing Director of IQT International's London office. She has sat on the boards for 40+ high tech startup companies in the US and Europe as a financial venture capitalist, corporate venture capitalist and most recently on behalf of the US intelligence community.
Throughout these years they dreamed of starting their own business together, one marked by collaboration, drive, trust, and authenticity. In 2021, they founded Black Opal Ventures, and turned this dream into reality
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Black Opal Ventures is bringing rare, everlasting value to entrepreneurs and investors. Decades of success driven by rich insights have poised us to recognize rare value in others and driven our mission to build better businesses and a better future at the intersection of healthcare and technology.
Evidence shows that when two industries collide, the outcome is industry-transforming companies with exponential impact and returns. An industry in isolation becomes stagnant. Bringing in knowledge, practices and diverse thinking from another industry is transformational. The U.S. healthcare industry is primed for disruption to solve the multitude of problems, including uncured and unmanaged disease, lack of access to care, poor quality and medical errors, health disparities, and unsustainable costs.
So, we’re identifying and elevating technology start-ups with purposes that mirror our own, whose definitions of success go beyond business. The gems we uncover will receive the rare value we provide, value that goes further than financial support. Value that shapes leadership and establishes radiant brilliance through advocacy and expertise. Value that realizes potential and effects change.
Propelling innovation to build a brilliant tomorrow.
What we are doing now
Less than 6% of US-based VC firms are women-led, despite strong evidence suggesting that female-managed US funds outperform all-male rivals. At Black Opal, we are committed to closing the gender and diversity gap, not just because it is the right thing to do, but also because it is the smart thing to do.
Disrupting industries and removing barriers is just something we do.
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