Tag Archives: investing

Achieving Health Moonshots w/ Vinod Khosla



Last month, Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, came back for part II of his Fireside Chat where he joined our co-founder, Unity Stoakes, to talk about achieving Health Moonshots, how COVID opened more doors to innovation and experimentation, finding societal impact without expertise, and identifying your long-term and basecamp vision. Listen to part I here.

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.

 


Payor Collaboration With Terry Booker of Independence Blue Cross



Today we’re talking with Terry Booker, the VP of corporate development and innovation at Independence Blue Cross. Booker combines years of experience in investment banking and business development with an insider’s knowledge of Independence Blue Cross, an insurer that serves more than seven million people. In our conversation, which was held in front of a live virtual audience of founders from the StartUp Health portfolio, we get tactical about how startups can best partner with the largest insurers in the world.

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.


Michelle Snyder Brings a Creative Spirit to Marketing and Investing



Michelle Snyder has done a bit of everything. Now a partner at McKesson Ventures (she joined the healthcare-oriented venture group in late 2020), the digital health veteran has seen innovation from every angle: driving the marketing behind startups like Epocrates and Welltok, mentoring early-stage entrepreneurs in accelerator and incubator programs, and making strategic investments at Welltok and now McKesson. But it’s her willingness to roll up her sleeves and develop creative solutions to challenges that makes Snyder an exceptional Jill-of-all-trades. Snyder took a look back on her career to date in a recent StartUp Health Fireside Chat that was as fun and freewheeling as it is chock-full of good advice.

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.


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.


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.


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.