Tag Archives: impact investing

Two Top Health Investors Share Their 2023 Tips for Founders



Whether they like it or not – and they probably don’t – every health tech founder needs to think about money. How much they need, and how to get it. For many founders, raising outside funds becomes a whole new full time job that they have to take on. This year, funding in the sector has dipped sharply, making that job even harder and more stressful.

On our podcast this week, we hear from the other side of the table. We sat down with the heads of two major health tech investment firms and got their advice for health innovation entrepreneurs in 2023.

First up is Lee Shapiro, managing partner at 7wireVentures and long-time collaborator with StartUp Health. Shapiro is a luminary in digital health investing so we asked him for his macro view of the industry and got a few practical tips for founders raising funds today.

Then we hear from Shawn Ellis, managing partner at Distributed Ventures, a $100M fund that invests in Seed and Series A deals and has a strong health tech focus. In our chat Ellis broke down where his firm has found success recently and exactly what he looks for in a pitch.


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Alyssa Jaffee of 7wireVentures on Finding Balance, Authenticity, and Founder-Market Fit



This week’s episode of StartUp Health NOW is pulled from a recent Fireside Chat we held with investor Alyssa Jaffee, a partner at 7wireVentures who focuses on digital health. Jaffee sits on the board of Ayogo Health and works with five health companies as a board observer, so she’s got a very hands-on understanding of what’s working and what’s not.

In the interview, Jaffee shares some best practices for breaking through the noise and landing a meeting with an investor. She talks through the importance of founder-market fit – why passion is particularly important in healthcare – and why she’s so bullish on the health innovation market as a whole.

We hold these candid conversations in front of a live audience of founders from the StartUp Health portfolio, so you’ll get to learn from their questions as well.


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.


A Candid Conversation w/ Glen Tullman and Lee Shapiro, Investors in the StartUp Health Moonshots Impact Fund



Join us in Miami Beach in March for StartUp Health @ ViVE 2022: startuphealth.com/vive

This week on the show we’re revisiting a conversation that first aired in 2021. It’s from a fireside chat we had with Lee Shapiro and Glen Tullman, the dynamic duo behind ventures like Allscripts, 7wire Ventures, and Livongo. On the call, the two talk with Steven Krein, StartUp Health CEO & Co-founder, about 25 years of lessons learned in investing and how they built health moonshot companies. We hear how Transcarent was “Hatched” and the success drivers behind Livongo. More importantly, we get a candid view of how two icons of health investors think about work and life.

We also learn a bit about why both Lee Shapiro and Glen Tullman have invested in the StartUp Health Moonshots Impact Fund, which launched last year. This fund makes it easy for investors to back a diverse portfolio of health startups, and you can learn all about it at healthmoonshots.com.

Lee Shapiro and Glen Tullman will be joining StartUp Health and more than 50 of our Health Transformers at ViVE, a premier health innovation event by HLTH and CHIME that’s happening in Miami Beach from March 6-9. StartUp Health @ ViVE will bring together founders, partners, and investors under one collaborative roof, and we’ll be broadcasting stories of health moonshot progress from the StartUp Health TV Studio. We hope you’ll join us in Miami Beach! Learn more and save on your ViVE registration at startuphealth.com/vive.

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.
Follow us on social media for daily updates on Health TransformersTwitterLinkedInFacebook, and Instagram.


Melissa Buckley Gets Candid on How Philanthropies Partner With Startups



In this episode of StartUp Health NOW, we sat down with Melissa Buckley, the Director of the Innovation Fund at the California Health Care Foundation, a non-profit with a unique mission and vision for how to support health innovation. In this conversation we unpack the philanthropic foundation and the unique way it invests in new ideas based on impact, strategies behind impact investing, how startups can find opportunities working with philanthropies, and how Melissa’s work in California can help us see where the market is heading next more broadly.

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.