Francis deSouza

Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23andMe, has announced plans to take the genetic testing company private. This strategic move aims to provide more flexibility in navigating regulatory challenges and to accelerate growth opportunities. The decision follows a trend of health tech companies seeking private ownership to focus on long-term objectives. Wojcicki highlighted the importance of this shift to maintain the company's commitment to innovation and customer-centric services. Taking 23andMe private reflects a bold step towards enhancing its position in the rapidly evolving genomics industry. Read more about this exciting development here: https://lnkd.in/gdrC3a64 #genomics #IPO #privatisation #23andMe

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Open-source models can be a strong lever for increasing gross margins at AI companies, especially those that have hefty cost structures (e.g., enterprise sales orgs that require significant customer success or implementation resources, as well forward-deployed AI services models common in healthcare and life sciences). One of many reasons to maintain a modular and flexible stack with minimal dependencies when building an AI company. More on the importance of flexibility in the AI stack: https://lnkd.in/eA2XATRk h/t Delip Rao #ai #artificialintelligence #generativeai #healthcare

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This analysis, at least anecdotally makes sense to me. In many situations, infringe and holdout is the least painful option for large infringers. The system enables it. - The plaintiff must allocate the time and $$ to assert, taking time and $$ away from selling and developing products. Even if they engage litigation financiers they are limiting their upside potential. - The infringer continues to infringe while employing stall tactics or simply relying on the painfully slow, overburdened legal system. - The cost benefit analysis for infringers - "infringe and pay lawyers" typically outweighs the cost of design around or license. - Enhanced damages and injunctions are rare. - Litigation insurance products reduce risk all around. "The Marcum report shows that there is indeed something wrong with the patent system in the United States but it’s not excessive litigation or patent trolls. The real problem is the inability of patent owners to enforce their rights against infringers. Given the difficulty of obtaining injunctive relief and the limited enhancement of damages, it is unsurprising that predatory infringement has become a standard business practice when, at worst, all an infringer can be expected to pay is a reasonable royalty and, at best, nothing at all."

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Interesting insights for startups planning to expand business to US.

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🌟 Europe! It’s time to boldly build together to create a better and brighter system of care. 🌟 It was energizing for Alexandre Momeni and myself to meet with so many talented entrepreneurs and leaders across pharma, payers, providers and policy at HLTH Europe, all committed to making a difference in European healthcare. Here are a few of takeaways: ✅ An ambitious new generation of European digital health innovators is emerging. Following in the footsteps of Sword Health, Alan and Doctolib, companies like Doccla, Nabla, Corti and Causaly are pioneering world-class solutions to bridge the critical gaps in Europe’s healthcare infrastructure. They are creating a future instead of optimizing the present and their success will raise the bar, attracting more talent and investment in the space. ✅ Our academic health systems are undergoing a ‘renAIssance’. Lighthouse health systems like Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Guy's and St Thomas'​ NHS Foundation Trust and Greater Paris University Hospitals - AP-HP are re-imagining their business models to shift care out of the hospital, making strategic investments and embracing innovative solutions to leapfrog their most pressing challenges, including with (Gen)AI. AI is not just a tool for efficiency; it’s a catalyst for more effective healthcare. ✅ Radical collaboration is the path to success. HLTH, with over 3,500 attendees from over 60 countries convening in Amsterdam, is proof that when we are bold and join together as a community, bringing the best minds and hearts together to engage and share ideas, we make progress. This is critical in Europe where the geographic and regulatory complexities of the market means greater coordination and intentionality is needed to achieve real system-level change instead of diffuse pockets of innovation. As an investor in European digital health for over a decade, I’m excited by how vibrant the ecosystem is becoming. At General Catalyst, we are committed to creating, investing, partnering and operating to enhance the resilience of European healthcare — all in the pursuit of Health Assurance. Let’s seize this moment!

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Thrilled to announce the launch of our inaugural edition of Beyond Benchmarks at Emergence Capital. This comprehensive report dives deep into the metrics and trends shaping the early-stage enterprise cloud market. A huge thank you to our VC partners and contributors for making this possible! Here's a sneak peek of our findings: --> 60% of companies have already integrated GenAI into their service offerings, with another 20% planning to do so this year. --> While most companies use OpenAI as their primary LLM, many are experimenting with multiple models. We’re seeing a trend toward intelligently routing GenAI inference requests based on cost, performance, and security. --> Companies that have implemented GenAI are showing promising results, with a 7% higher NDR compared to those that haven’t. Beyond Benchmarks goes further with more GenAI trends, insights on the current fundraising environment, and key performance metrics. Our goal is to provide founders and their teams with valuable benchmarks to help them make better-informed decisions. At Emergence Capital, we're committed to helping founders build iconic companies. Dive into the full report here: https://lnkd.in/g6bnvAZM

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At Two Bear Capital our definition of value-add, lead, early-stage investing is to form a true partnership with the founders we back. We believe that only a small fraction of our return potential comes from us “picking right” when we make our first investment into a company – the vast majority comes from how effectively we can actively help our brilliant founders over the ensuing 3-7 years in achieving the passionate, ambitious, and positive-impact goals that drive them.

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Hot off the pre-print server – an important publication authored by the Atropos Health team exploring the performance of LLMs in answering real-world clinical questions. LLMs excel at summarizing and contextualizing existing literature, but cannot generate de novo medical evidence today. The results of the study highlight performance gains attributable to injecting novel, relevant, and up-to-date medical evidence into LLM-powered clinical decision support systems. Brigham Hyde Nigam Shah Saurabh Gombar Read the study here: https://lnkd.in/ecuU25Pq

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Exciting news from Monica Chopra, Jeffrey De Flavio, MD, Samantha Adelberg, and the rest of the Auxa Health team as they officially announce their $5.2M Seed round. The team's deep industry expertise and drive for change have led them to solve critical infrastructural friction to providing quality healthcare and adoption of value-based care. Auxa's AI benefit navigation platform is simplifying the complexities of healthcare by streamlining all of the fragmented and siloed data and information to make it actionable in real-time for healthcare organizations. For the 70% of Americans who aren't getting access to the health and social care benefits they deserve, Auxa's solution will be pivotal in enabling equitable care. We're thrilled to partner with co-investors Zeal Capital Partners, AlleyCorp, Laconia, and Chaac Ventures on this journey and look to share many more milestones ahead. Cc K50 Ventures, Ryan Bloomer, Daniel Vásquez, Nick Talwar, Stefanie Ng https://lnkd.in/dPDY7-Db

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I used to spend 2-3 hours daily on clinic notes, skeptical of AI scribe technology. However, I've been impressed with RevMaxx, a generative AI company transforming clinical note creation by listening to physician-patient conversations and automatically generating comprehensive notes. This platform accurately captures crucial ICD-10 codes, saving valuable time ⏰. 👉 Why This Matters: - **Reducing Physician Burnout:** Administrative tasks are a significant contributor to physician burnout. Innovations like RevMaxx alleviate this burden effectively. #HealthcareInnovation #AI #PhysicianBurnout #MedicalDocumentation #HealthTech #RevMaxx

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📢 Calling all healthcare innovators to join MIT Solve's Health Equity Challenge! Half the world lacks access to comprehensive health services, and two billion people face financial hardships due to healthcare costs. We at Verge believe that healthtech innovations can change that, and so does MIT Solve. MIT Solve is calling for innovators worldwide to submit their technology-driven solutions that improve healthcare access and outcomes in an affordable, scalable, and sustainable way, especially in under-resourced communities. 🔍 What's MIT Solve Looking For? - Ensuring ethical and effective health-related data collection for AI  - Strengthening health system capacity & resilience - Increasing access and quality of health services for underserved groups around the world 🏆 Why Participate? - Prize funding - 9-month support program - Tailored workshops, coaching & more! 📆 Don't miss out on this opportunity to make a difference because the deadline is TOMORROW: April 23, 2024, 12:00 PM EDT. Check out more details here: https://lnkd.in/g8cGEfid #HealthcareInnovation #HealthcareAccess #Innovation #GlobalHealth #SocialImpact #HealthEquity #HealthEquityChallege Verge HealthTech Fund

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Some great advice in this interview — featuring Jeffry Weinhuff of Visionary Ventures — relevant to all sub-sectors of #medtech. My favorite line is “investment capital is not tuition.” 😂 But the best advice stems from the insight that good exits via IPO or M&A processes with multiple buyers competing for your company require that most medtech companies must prove their value via strong commercial metrics. And doing that takes a lot of time, expertise and money. Plan, hire and raise capital accordingly. At Vensana Capital, our investment process centers on a deep analysis of every aspect of getting a breakthrough medtech innovation to market, no matter what stage of development a company is at today. We like entrepreneurs who believe their innovation can be highly impactful to patients. We love the ones who want to leave no doubt. https://lnkd.in/eDsUqgn6

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This week Mikal Ventures brings you a 4-week breakdown of the US capital market with an emphasis on the Mikal verticals. Over the 4-week period ending July 8, 728 new companies were added, resulting in just under 96,400 companies included in the US Health Tech, Med Tech, Fin Tech, AI Tech, and Ed Tech verticals. AI Tech maintained its most active status, seeing the greatest percentage of growth in new companies, transactions and news articles. The US Fin Tech vertical led the way in SEC Filings. Mikal Ventures publishes these stats to provide a perspective on how the verticals and new startups move through time. We hope you find them informative and thought-provoking. VC Investors are always adjusting their "Play Book" with a variety of options for investing. Mikal Ventures is one of those alternatives, offering curated solutions to real world problems. Reach out if you have questions on how we can be of assistance and bookmark https://mikalventures.com/ for additional insights and information.

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Awesome report from Rock Health (in the comments) about H124 digital health funding. 📈 Despite broader economic challenges, the digital health sector, including mental health, has shown resilience, raising $5.7B across 266 deals. There is a strong Series A pipeline, tapering off of unlabeled funding rounds and 3 public exits in Q2 2024 indicating a revival in the exit market and a return to more sustainable funding patterns​. Key insights about the mental health market: 🧠 Mental health continues to be the leading clinical indication in digital health funding, securing $682 million in H1 2024. This consistent top ranking highlights the ongoing investor interest and the market's recognition of the critical need for mental health solutions. 🤖 The focus on mental health is driven by a combination of increased awareness, the rising demand for accessible mental health services, and the integration of tech solutions...🙄 In fact, AI has become a significant factor in digital health investments, with 34% of the total sector funding going to AI-startups. This trend is also reflected in mental health, where AI is being utilised to enhance diagnosis, personalise treatment plans, and provide scalable, efficient care solutions. Let's go!

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As I said right at the start of this week's The Heart of Healthcare Podcast, Shivdev Rao is one of the most exceptional founders I have ever worked with. He is also a great human being. In this week's episode he shares what is it like leading the 🚀 that is Abridge and some awesome life lessons. IMHO this is a great listen for founders building in both the AI and healthcare fields!

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One of my proudest moments as an investor occurred today as Alaffia Health announced its series A because it shows how the Aperture® Venture Capital vision of multi-level, multi-generational #impactinvesting is succeeding in the marketplace. Here’s the model in its most basic form : ✅As diverse fund managers with meaningful capital to allocate, we are changing the VC landscape every day just by doing our day jobs. ✅As Black/Brown investors with ~40 years experience collectively, Aperture GPs have access to talent /excellence that others do not, so our portfolio *organically* is more inclusive by race, gender and geography even while optimizing for financial outcomes (all about the alpha). ✅Our most successful portco’s are using financial #innovation to solve market problems that impact underrepresented demographics and underserved communities. Alaffia Health is a shining example of the impact portion of our overall fund thesis, and we couldn’t be prouder of TJ Ademiluyi and Adun Akanni, MPH, PMP - the dynamic brother-sister founder duo whose vision we have steadfastly supported on their journey. Congratulations to TJ and Adun from William Crowder and myself, as well as the whole Aperture team- Marjorie King Philip McKenzie Yves Louis-Jacques Tanvi Lal Michelle Dhansinghani Lisha Bell Katie Kelly Amy Chung Cindy Chong, CFA Brian Fernandes-Halloran Monroe France Jayden Pantel Darren Herman Evan Wladis Neal Triplett Thomas Scriven Peter Ammon Irina Bit-Babik Tim Milanich Rob Rahbari

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Sometimes, the best way to describe what Caresyntax does is through real results. We don't just talk about optimizing healthcare – we deliver. This case study dives deep into how we partnered with a Southeastern health system to optimize their complex ventral hernia repair program. The results are staggering: - Annual cost reduction of $700,000 - Service line net margin improvement of $15,000 per patient - 54% decrease in post-surgical opioid use (safer, happier patients) - 33% reduction in length of stay (patients recover faster) Here's the secret sauce: We go beyond traditional data analysis. Our unique approach connects all the dots – patient factors, treatment details, costs, and reimbursements. This allows us to identify hidden opportunities for improvement. Read this case study to see how we did it. https://lnkd.in/gtebkRU7 #DataDrivenSurgery

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Imagine swallowing the competition whole. That's what many players in tech do via roll-up strategies, gobbling up smaller firms to deliver richer solutions and amass greater market share. Where else are roll-up strategies common? // HEALTHCARE Picture being a patient at a medical practice that’s been part of a roll-up in Healthcare Services. It's an industry ripe for roll-ups due to its fragmented nature and potential for greater efficiency. // CONSUMER SERVICES Or let's say you needed your HVAC serviced, and notice your local repairman is now part of a bigger Consumer Services entity? Centralized management and scale economy turn these localized businesses into roll-up targets. // FINANCIAL SERVICES Think about your insurance agent or wealth management advisor. They're working in complex, highly regulated environments. In the Financial Services sector, roll-ups offer an effective way to consolidate expertise, streamline operations, and enhance customer offerings. // MANUFACTURING Now, imagine driving past factories under a new name — the result of Manufacturing and Industrial Services roll-ups. Bulk purchasing reduces costs, enhances production capabilities, and expands geographical footprints. // REAL ESTATE Lastly, envision your real estate brokerage firm. The industry sees roll-ups as a strategic move to increase market penetration, enhance service offerings, and hike up portfolio value. Roll-ups play a huge role in most industries, rather like a snowball rolling downhill, gaining momentum, and size. Are you seeing roll-ups in your sector or considering M&A?

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🔥 Thrilled to see Hydrolix crushing it with a $35M Series B! 🔥 Data is the new oil, but too much gets discarded due to prohibitive storage costs. Hydrolix cracks this with its streaming #datalake platform that leverages object storage, decoupled compute, indexing, & compression. As Marty Kagan puts it: 'We’re cheaper than cold storage and faster than hot storage' Hydrolix’s streaming data lake platform is a game-changer for #AI, #observability, & #security workloads. 💥 Real-time query performance at terabyte scale 💰75%+ savings on log mgmt & 4x more data retained  ☁️ Stateless & containerized for seamless scaling with Amazon Web Services (AWS) S3, Google Cloud GCS, Microsoft Azure Blob 💡 Had the early conviction (first investor) that data is key to unlocking AI & enterprise workloads. It's proving right. Huge thanks to Marty Kagan Hasan Alayli for letting me early on their journey to build an impessive company 🙏 Super pumped to have awesome Aaron Perman at S3 Ventures leading this round along with other strong existing investors - Nava Ventures (Manish Patel) Wing Venture Capital (Peter Wagner) Oregon Venture Fund (Matt Compton Scott Grout) and others 💪 Onwards! 🚀🚀🚀 #cloud #data #ai #ml #llm #largelanguagemodels #analytics #security #loganalytics #datalake #datawarehouse https://lnkd.in/g5i6afP5

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