Tag Archives: Digital Health

Exit Strategies: M&A Wisdom From Entrepreneur-Investors Samer Hamadeh and James Marciano 



In this episode of StartUp Health NOW, StartUp Health co-founder Unity Stoakes dials up Samer Hamadeh, CEO and founder of Zeel, and James Marciano, founder of Tuck advisors, for a candid discussion on mergers and acquisition. According to both Hamadeh and Marciano – who have spent time on both sides of the M&A table – it’s important for founders to build their startups as though they’re going to sell one day, even if they don’t. That means building the systems for clean accounting and transparent business operations from day one. They also discuss the elusive UFO (unsolicited flying offer) and how to know when an offer is worth pursuing. This straight talk on M&A is hard-earned wisdom that will benefit most people in the startup ecosystem.

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.


With Finess, Privy CEO Evi Heilbrunn Is Breaking Down Stigmas in the Women’s Health Aisle



Because she’s tackling a stigmatized area of women’s health, one that’s been swept to the side for a long time, Privy CEO Evi Heilbrunn has had to do her research and educate the market. By doing so, she’s showing retailers like Target – where Finess is now on the shelf – that women’s health products were in need of an upgrade, and that we’re on the cusp of a whole new way of thinking about the whole women’s health aisle.

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.


StartUp Health Fireside Chat: Dr. Andrey Ostrovsky, Health Innovation Investor



In a recent Fireside Chat with a few dozen founders from the StartUp Health portfolio, we were joined by Andrey Ostrovsky, MD, former Chief Medical Officer at Medicaid. Dr. Ostrovsky is a practicing doctor and an entrepreneur – in fact, he founded and sold a company that was a part of StartUp Health years ago. In 2016, Andrey took on the role of Chief Medical Officer of Medicaid. Then he rolled all that experience up and became a health innovation investor. Andrey’s done it all and is generous with that experience.

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.


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.


Despite COVID-Constrained World, Digital Health Investor Predicts Promising Future in Telemedicine



Much has been said and written — here at StartUp Health and elsewhere — about how in healthcare there’s pre-COVID and there’s post-COVID. Regulations, reimbursements, consumer attitudes, and just basic human norms have shifted dramatically. Mass adoption of telemedicine has made headlines, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In today’s podcast, we turned to Alyssa Jaffee, industry pro and VP at 7Wire Ventures, an early-stage venture fund headquartered in Chicago, to delve deeper into understanding those shifts and opportunities in digital health from an investor’s lens. The conversation you’ll hear is between Jaffe and Bari Krein, StartUp Health’s Chief Strategy Officer. It took place during a recent Expert Office Hour session that we hosted for the Health Transformers in the StartUp Health community, but Jaffe’s advice was so spot on and honest that we couldn’t help sharing it with a wider audience on the podcast.

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.


StartUp Health’s 2020 Midyear Insights Report: A Conversation With Jonah Comstock



StartUp Health co-founder Unity Stoakes and editor in chief Logan Plaster talk health innovation funding trends with HIMSS Media editor-in-chief Jonah Comstock, a health tech journalist who has been covering the health innovation funding landscape for more than a decade. StartUp Health released its quarterly Insights report on July 1, 2020. The report confirmed that health innovation funding has remained on a strong upward trajectory despite of the market uncertainties created by the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, with $4.2B raised in Q2 2020, we find ourselves closing out the most-funded six-month period on record. In this episode, Comstock, Stoakes and Plaster discuss the market forces behind this apparent optimism, the importance of a global perspective on health innovation, and whether the current positive trend is likely to continue through the rest of 2020.

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.


How Joint Academy CEO Jakob Dahlberg Is Transforming Osteoarthritis Care



According to the Arthritis Foundation, one in four Americans will develop hip or knee osteoarthritis in their lifetime. Experts suggest we have yet to reach a maximum fixed lifespan, creating an overwhelming demand for accessing treatment options that address joint pain and immobility.

One of StartUp Health’s rising stars. Jakob Dahlberg, Co-founder and CEO of the Swedish based telemedicine company Joint Academy, has created an interactive digital treatment program for arthritis.  In this episode of StartUp Health NOW, Dahlberg talks about the companies mission, response to the current pandemic, and how creating a digital joint therapy platform is addressing a gap in healthcare.

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.


Sandro Galea, Md

Dr. Sandro Galea: Changing the Conversation Around Health



To improve health, not just healthcare, we have to do the hard work of building a healthier world. And that, says Sandro Galea, MD, dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, starts with investing in preventative care infrastructures, not just in treatments. In this episode of StartUp Health NOW, Galea shares the inspiration for his book Well: What We Need to Talk About When We Talk About Health and urges us to think more deeply about the interconnected forces around us—from money and power to love and hate, compassion, fairness, and justice—and how they can lead to sustainable 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.


Fireside Chat: Jeanne Kehren, Bayer



Jeanne Kehren, Senior VP of Digital & Commercial Innovation at Bayer, talks with StartUp Health President, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Unity Stoakes, at the StartUp Health Festival in San Francisco. January 14, 2020.

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.