Lamont says no profit from wife’s investment in testing firm

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont says a health care company that received funds from his wife’s venture capital firm and was contracted by the state to perform COVID-19 testing has not yet generated any profits.

But the Democrat reiterated to the Hartford Courant that any investment earnings made by Annie Lamont stemming from Stamford-based Sema4 will be donated to 4-CT, an independent nonprofit charity created last year to address unmet needs caused by the pandemic.

Sema4 is one of four firms hired by the state to provide COVID-19 testing. The contract was negotiated by the Office of the State Comptroller and Lamont has said his office had nothing to do with signing the contract. The state’s ethics office has found no conflict of interest with the contract.

“Sema4 was one of the testing groups that allowed us to speed it up,” Lamont told The Courant. “I said that Annie has a small investment there, so make sure that we put every dime of profit into charity. We sent that right to the Board of Ethics.”

Annie Lamont is the successful co-founder and managing partner of Oak HC/FT, a venture capital firm that invests in health care and financial technology start-ups.

Ned Lamont said no donations from the Sema4 investment have been made yet to 4-CT because there haven’t been any profits.

“There’s nothing yet, but there will be, I think,” Lamont said. “It’s still under water. At least they don’t have liquidity or return on the investment yet, but they will at some point in the next couple of years. We will do what we said we were going to do.”