Category Archives: Startups

New VC Funds Put Women’s Health Moonshot Front and Center



In today’s venture capital world, the vast majority of decisions are made by male investors – by one recent estimate, 87% of partners at digital health venture funds are men. This imbalance has resulted in an overall lack of investment in women’s health innovations, and in female founders. That’s shifting thanks in part to investors like Maria Velissaris, our guest on this week’s episode. Maria was a successful entrepreneur and business development maven before she became a managing Partner at SteelSky Ventures. SteelSky is a VC firm with a laser focus on women’s health, and a desire to see women-run startups get the funding they deserve. Today’s conversation has been pulled from an expert office hour held by StartUp Health and attended by entrepreneurs from the StartUp Health portfolio. So in addition to Maria’s insights – on investment trends, how to pitch, and how COVID-19 has changed the game – you’ll get to hear real-life questions from founders who are working in the trenches. The session was moderated by Katya Hancock, StartUp Health’s Investor Network Director. Enjoy.

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.


Venus Williams Gets Candid About Entrepreneurship, Wellness and Bouncing Back From COVID-19



Tennis icon and Olympian Venus Williams has built on her success on the court to become a savvy and successful investor, advisor and entrepreneur. Now she’s making her mark on health innovation. Venus Williams has partnered with Zeel, the wellness company that invented the idea of massage-on-demand. Now, Zeel has expanded to a tech-platform that offers a range of wellness on the go services. Recently, Zeel Co-founder Alison Harmelin sat down with the iconic tennis star to get her candid thoughts about health, entrepreneurship, and how startups can bounce back from COVID-19 even stronger than they started.

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.


inHealth CEO Harry Kim on Why Lifestyle Therapeutics Are the Next Frontier in Health




RxRevu Is Bringing Drug Price Transparency to Doctors at the Bedside



With the recent IPO of GoodRx, drug price transparency – at least on the consumer side – is having a moment. But what about at the patient’s bedside? In this week’s podcast, we sit down with Carm Huntress, CEO of RxRevu, a StartUp Health company that for seven years has been bringing drug price data to doctors at the point of care so they can make smarter decisions for their patients.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health https://www.startuphealth.com/
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots http://www.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.


Mindset Matters Most: Steven Krein on the Mindset of Transformative Entrepreneurs



Steve Krein. CEO, co-founder & managing partner of StartUp Health, discusses the importance of having the right entrepreneurial mindset. Thoughtfully organizing the struggles you are still facing today through a DOS (Dangers, Opportunities, Strengths) exercise helps your audience better understand your top priorities, your biggest challenges, while being able to discuss the opportunities you’re excited about.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health https://www.startuphealth.com/
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots http://www.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.


Raising Capital During a Pandemic



An investor calls and holds off on wiring funds. A VC halts new investments. An angel decides to significantly cut back. These are anecdotes we’ve heard from entrepreneurs since the Covid pandemic hit six month ago, yet many continue to raise and close rounds of funding. How’d they do it? StartUp Health Health Transformers, Lynda Brown-Ganzert of Curatio who closed a Series A round in June, and Richard Hanbury of Sana Health who raised ~$6M in August, share how they successfully navigated the fundraise process before and during COVID. Key takeaways will include: finding your funding route, pivoting your pitch to be relevant in an After-Covid world, and best practices for telling your story and connecting with investors virtually.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health https://www.startuphealth.com/
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots http://www.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.


Kavi Misri on Rose’s High Tech Approach to Predicting Depression and Expanding Access to Mental Health Services



Working 80 to 100 hours a week for 7 years in healthcare investment banking finally caught up to Kavi Misri, founder and CEO of Rose. Like many, he found himself burned out, depressed and in need of help. Looking for answers, Kavi was struck by how difficult it was for him to get basic mental health care. Knowing there had to be a better way, he founded Rose. Using natural language processing and deep learning to predict depression and mood disorder symptoms, Kavi and his team have created a high tech approach to assessing and predicting a patient’s mental health faster.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health https://www.startuphealth.com/
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots http://www.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.


Our Powers Combined



After a meeting at a StartUp Health event years ago and recognizing a kindred mindset in the other, two CEOs from our portfolio, Jim Iversen of Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical and Anupam Khandelwal of Sagesurfer, decided to join forces and develop a digital therapeutics app, which just hit the app store, to help patients track their MS-related symptoms for personal awareness purposes.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health https://www.startuphealth.com/
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots http://www.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.


Anish Sebastian and Babyscripts Are Showing the World That a Connected Pregnancy Is a Healthier Pregnancy



On this episode we talk to Anish Sebastian, CEO and co-founder of Babyscripts. Founded by Sebastian and his business partner Juan Pablo Segura in 2014, Babyscripts uses connected health devices – like a bluetooth-enabled blood pressure monitor – and an app to help women have better pregnancies. OBGYNs, who prescribe the app to their patients, get a steady stream of data, helping them intervene early in cases of high blood pressure or other complications. And moms-to-be are given the tools to communicate with their doctor throughout their pregnancy. Babyscripts has been involved in more than 200,000 pregnancies and with every new provider partnership they sign, they open up access to high quality pre and post natal care. StartUP Health’s Logan Plaster caught up with Anish to get the latest.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health https://www.startuphealth.com/
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots http://www.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.


The Transformation of Digital Health in COVID Times



It’s late August, approximately six months since the coronavirus pandemic sent us indoors, stunted the economy and sparked a rapid global transformation in healthcare. To get a high-level retrospective on those six months and what this period in history means for health innovation going forward, we dialed up Unity Stoakes, Co-founder and President of StartUp Health.  

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health https://www.startuphealth.com/
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots http://www.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.