Category Archives: Innovation

Reversing Diabetes With Sami Inkinen of Virta Health

January 4, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, Insights, StartupsCure Disease, diabetes, Health Moonshot Update, Health Moonshots, Logan Plaster, Moonshots, Sami Inkinen, Type 2 Diabetes, Type II Diabetes, Virta, Virta HealthNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:58 — 50.8MB)

Join us in Miami Beach from March 6-9, 2022, for StartUp Health @ ViVE to meet Health Transformers: startuphealth.com/vive

The numbers surrounding Type 2 diabetes are staggering. The WHO puts the number north of 400 million people globally, and it’s just getting worse. Health experts agree that Type 2 diabetes can largely be managed by a combination of nutrition, exercise, and medication. But what if it could be reversed completely? That’s the claim, and the health moonshot, of our guest today, Sami Inkinen, CEO and Founder of Virta, which StartUp Health backed in 2020. Specifically, Inkinen and his team want to reverse Type 2 diabetes in 100 million people by 2025.

Before Virta, Inkinen disrupted the real estate industry by co-founding Trulia, which he sold to Zillow for $2.5B. Now with Virta, he’s raised more than $350M to date, giving him the capital needed to take a great idea and scale it in unprecedented ways.

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Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots healthmoonshots.com
Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content.
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Startup Strategies: The Secret to Successful Tech Transfer at a Major University

December 21, 2021Business, Health, Innovation, Startups, UncategorizedLogan Plaster, Weill Cornell, WisdomNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:27 — 53.5MB)

Our guest is Lukasz Kowalik, senior licensing and business development officer at Weill Cornell. Lukasz has a degree in chemistry, a PhD in neuroscience, and a postdoc in chemical biology. But he also works in business development, and his current position has him helping inventors and startups transition into commercialization in partnership with a large university health system. In this StartUp Health NOW episode we dig into how those worlds come together and learn what makes successful tech transfer partnerships.

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Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

How Echo Health Ventures Invests in Health Innovation, With Jessica Zeaske

December 14, 2021Business, Health, Innovation, Insights, StartupsEcho Health Ventures, India Edwards, Jessica Zeaske, Logan PlasterNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:16 — 50.6MB)

On this StartUp Health Fireside Chat, held in front of a live audience of StartUp Health founders, we hear from Jessica Zeaske, partner at Echo Health Ventures. Prior to Echo, Jessica served as Director of Healthcare Investments at GE Ventures. She brings together a unique blend of public health, software development, and business experience, and she leverages that as an investor and on the many boards she sits on.

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Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

Lee Shapiro and Glen Tullman Build Collaborative Partnerships to Achieve Health Moonshots

December 7, 2021Business, Health, Innovation, Insights, Startups7Wire Ventures, Glen Tullman, health innovation, Innovation, Insights, investing, Investors, Lee Shapiro, Livongo, Steven Krein, TranscarentNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:34 — 51.8MB)

In this StartUp Health Fireside Chat, we bring you a conversation with Lee Shapiro and Glen Tullman, the dynamic duo behind 7wire Ventures, Livongo, and now Transcarent. These two have worked side by side as friends and business partners for more than 30 years, investing in startups, scaling businesses, and taking companies public.

Now, in addition to all the rest, the two are backing a diverse portfolio of early-stage health startups through the StartUp Health Moonshots Impact Fund.

When it comes to health innovation, Lee and Glen have seen it all – always through the lens of a collaborative partnership. Steven Krein, StartUp Health’s CEO and Co-founder, leads the conversation, which covers everything from new market opportunities to practical strategies for working with investors.

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Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

For Ironman Athlete David Weingard, a Diabetes Diagnosis Was a Spark for Innovation

November 30, 2021Business, Health, Innovation, Insights, Startups, UncategorizedAccess to care, Cecelia Health, Cure Disease, David Weingard, diabetes, Health Moonshot Update, Health Moonshots, Logan Plaster, Startup, StartUp HealthStartUp Health NOW

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:42 — 50.4MB)

Join us in Miami Beach from March 6-9, 2022, for StartUp Health @ ViVE to meet the Cecelia Health team and other Health Transformers: startuphealth.com/vive

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Today, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn’t been impacted by diabetes in some way. Globally, half a billion people are affected by the disease, and it was responsible for the deaths of 1.5M people globally in 2019. As frightening as those numbers are, there is also great hope to be found today in the entrepreneurs and innovations changing how we manage diabetes. To understand both sides of this coin – the very personal toll of diabetes plus the present and future promise of health technology – we talked to David Weingard, founder of Cecelia Health, which helps diabetics get the specialized health coaching they need. More importantly, David is a type 1 diabetic who has fought for his own life and knows the daily fears and challenges that this silent disease brings to millions. It’s that combination of experience that makes David’s journey so powerful.

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Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots healthmoonshots.com
Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content.
Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.

Julie Yoo: A Look at How Andreessen Horowitz Invests in the Future of Health

November 22, 2021Business, Health, Innovation, Insights, Startups, Uncategorizeda16z, Andreessen Horowitz, Entrepreneue, investing, Logan Plaster, Startup, Yulee YooStartUp Health NOW

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:34 — 52.7MB)

This week on the podcast we sat down with Andreessen Horowitz’s General Partner, Julie Yoo. Julie leads the firm’s investments in healthtech with a focus on companies that are modernizing how we access, how we pay for, and how we experience healthcare. During this Fireside Chat, Yoo talked about the growth of home health, fintech for healthcare, and her personal passions around solving for provider shortage issues and the mismatch of supply & demand. This session was hosted by StartUp Health’s Logan Plaster in front of a live audience of founders from the StartUp Health portfolio.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

Market Strategy & Insights With Aetna’s Brigitte Nettesheim

November 15, 2021Business, Health, Innovation, Insights, Startups, UncategorizedAetna, Brigitte Nettesheim, CVS, CVS Health, Logan Plaster, StartUp HealthStartUp Health NOW

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:38 — 50.0MB)

This week on the podcast we sat down with Brigitte Nettesheim from Aetna, a CVS Health company. In this conversation, Brigitte shares how she and her team develop market strategies and what they look for in partnerships that strengthen member experience. Brigitte also gave an insider view of best practices to connect into Aetna, like focusing on personalized engagement, access to care, and reduced costs. This session was hosted by StartUp Health’s Logan Plaster in front of a live audience of founders from the StartUp Health portfolio.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

youturn’s Shay Houser Is Making Addiction Treatment More Accessible

November 8, 2021Business, Health, Innovation, Insights, Startups, UncategorizedAddiction, end addiction, Health Moonshot, Health Moonshot Update, Health Moonshots, Logan Plaster, Shay Houser, youturnStartUp Health NOW

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:17 — 24.1MB)

On this podcast episode, which was recorded live on the floor of HLTH in Boston in October, StartUp Health’s Logan Plaster sits down with Shay Houser, the CEO and Co-founder of youturn. Shay and his team are working to fight addiction by making addiction treatment resources more accessible. They’ve recognized that it isn’t just the addicted person who is effected, but a wide community of friends and family, so they’re working with employers to address problems early and to respond to addiction as a community of support. Shay comes at youturn as both a serial entrepreneur and as someone who has struggled with addiction. That combination of tactical and personal experience has helped the startup secure important early partnerships, which Shay discusses in the interview.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

From Journalist to HealthTech Investor: Chrissy Farr, OMERS Ventures

October 19, 2021Business, Health, Innovation, Insights, StartupsChrissy Farr, CNBC, Fast Company, HealthTech Investor, India Edwards, Logan Plaster, Omers VenturesStartUp Health NOW

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:02 — 49.5MB)

This week on the podcast we sat down with Chrissy Farr, a HealthTech Investor at OMERS Ventures, where she focuses on women’s health and behavioral health. In this interactive chat, Chrissy talked about her priorities for the remainder of the year, including focus areas of women’s and behavioral health, as well as her experience making the change from being a full time journalist covering the health-tech beat at major publications like CNBC and Fast Company, to a venture capitalist, and how that has impacted her view on company storytelling. She also gave the inside scoop on OMERS Ventures and how to position yourself to get on her, and the broader company’s, radar.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

The Future of Health Innovation With Microsoft’s Dr. David Rhew

October 12, 2021Business, Health, Innovation, Insights, Startups, UncategorizedDr. Rhew, health innovation, Healthcare, Healthcare at Microsoft, India Edwards, Logan Plaster, Microsoft, Microsoft Cloud, Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, StartUp HealthStartUp Health NOW

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:22 — 48.0MB)

This week on the podcast, we’re bringing you a conversation with Dr. David Rhew, the Chief Medical Officer & Vice President of Healthcare at Microsoft. In this interactive session, Dr. Rhew broke down Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare and explained how the broader suite of Microsoft tools – from natural language processing to using Teams for telehealth – can help healthcare startups scale more quickly. Bottom line? If a startup wants to move quickly, don’t reinvent the wheel. The infrastructure you need might already exist in the marketplace. Finally, we learned specifics on how startups can partner with Microsoft directly. This interactive Fireside Chat was hosted by StartUp Health’s Media Director Logan Plaster in front of a live audience of founders from the StartUp Health portfolio.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com