Emily DeLong

The opioid crisis was a sad hallmark of my years working for the Baker Administration. In a time of extreme partisanship at the federal level, this was one area where public policy, civil discourse, and private enterprise seemed aligned and sufficiently motivated to find a solution. What we learned, however, is that dollars and access only go so far in combatting a disease that knows no so specific demographic. Instead, it's apparent that a battery of tools is needed to combat and prevent addiction--ranging from strong safety nets, to novel non-addictive pain therapies, and better technology. Introducing Marigold Health. Shrenik Jain, Ravi Shah, Tracey Cohen, MD, FASAM and team have built a proprietary NLP-based platform that--most significantly--improves the lives of those suffering from SUD/SMI. One customer we spoke with noted, "We needed a unique treatment intervention that had supportive research, fit into a CMS established model with a recognized service code, and that would provide positive clinical outcomes in an efficacious and fiscally responsible manner”. Another plainly said: "Marigold is our best hope to reach into the lives and help those who many have already given up on." Honored to join Bill Evans, Sean Day, and the entire syndicate in doing our part to scale a tool we believe will become essential in the fight against addiction. Marigold Health Innospark Ventures Rock Health KdT Ventures Matt Fates Lily Zarrella Venkat Srinivasan

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Big congrats to our outstanding rising clinical research stars and global health practitioners at IGHS, UCSF! After months of dedicated hard work, we've all completed our qualifying oral exams. I believe these projects hold the potential to lead to the development of new healthcare technologies, services, or interventions that address pressing global health issues and aid underserved populations. The breadth of our research is evident in the diverse range of global health issues we explored, including but not limited to: 1. Women's empowerment and reintegration programs. 2. Telehealth systems for Native American children with complex medical needs. 3. Performance of COVID-19 exposure notification systems. 4. Mental health interventions during natural disasters in low- and middle-income countries. 5. Cancer screening and treatment access in underserved communities. 6. HIV care and support services. 7. Predictors of disease severity in pediatric febrile illnesses. 8. Cost-effectiveness analyses of various interventions (malaria detection, CAR T-cell therapy, cervical cancer screening). 9. Social media analysis of tobacco product marketing strategies. 10. Pediatric emergency triage tools for resource-limited settings. 11. The impact of food insecurity on mental health. 12. Acculturation, diet quality, and their connection to childhood obesity. 13. Nursing perspectives on COVID-19 pandemic interventions. This wide range of topics underscores the multifaceted nature of global health challenges and the critical need for innovative, interdisciplinary solutions. Furthermore, cost-effectiveness analyses, cost-of-illness studies, and implementation studies can inform strategies for sustainable and scalable solutions.

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Healthcare is highly suited for AI automation, with many opportunities to improve accessibility, affordability, and outcomes. AI can drive efficiencies across various functions, though it will inevitably reduce the need for some human roles. #higherorder #ai #automation #healthcare #healthtech

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AI and Med Tech in Focus   AI System Developed to Identify Pathology in Tissues Engineers at Washington State University have developed an AI tool that uses images of human and animal tissue to detect abnormalities faster and more accurately than people. The AI algorithm was trained using images from past studies that involved kidney, testes, ovarian, prostate, breast and lymph node abnormalities. The new model detected disease in minutes—current processes take humans several hours and require specialized teams to check each other’s work. It was also found to be more accurate, sometimes detecting instances that humans had missed. The engineers designed the system to handle the processing load of the high-resolution gigapixel images by breaking them down into smaller tiles but still retaining the overall context of the tissue sample—akin to the zoom feature on a microscope or phone camera. Aside from getting diagnostic results more accurately and quickly, the new system also shows promise in epigenetics (the study of molecular processes that change gene behavior without changing underlying DNA). Epigenetic researchers can perform analyses and get results that used to take a year or more in just a couple of weeks. 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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"Consolidation could be good for the market — and allow companies to add new products and capabilities at a time when capital is harder to come by," says Teresa Lee. Health startups are facing a reality check post-pandemic. After the funding “sugar high” that many experienced, it’s clear that consolidation is needed to create a more sustainable future. As the industry recalibrates, merging forces can help streamline operations, reduce costs, and improve patient care. Collaboration might just be the key to navigating this new landscape and driving innovation forward. This is a great piece from Emily Olsen with Healthcare Dive: https://lnkd.in/eSUJQEkd What are your thoughts on the future of health startups? Can consolidation lead to better solutions in healthcare? #HealthTech #StartupConsolidation #Innovation #Healthcare

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Financing Deals 11/20/24 - 12/1/24 Private Market 💵 Aizen Therapeutics, an AI-driven biotech, emerged from stealth with a $13M seed round led by Wilson Hill, Madrona, and Cercano. The company leverages its DaX™ platform for computational protein design of Mirror Peptides, enhancing stability and reducing immunogenicity for tx applications 💶 atbtherapeutics completed a €54M Series A funding round co-led by EQT Life Sciences and MRL Ventures Fund LLC Fund, with participation from multiple investors. Funds will advance ATB's therapeutic antibody pipeline and expand its ATBioFarm platform for oncology and immunology applications 🧠 Synapticure Inc. a startup building digital health tools for neurodegenerative conditions like ALS, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's, raised $25M in Series A funding led by B Capital . Funds will expand Alzheimer’s and dementia care and grow the company’s reach with partners. Other investors include CVS Health Ventures, RA Capital Management, GV (Google Ventures), & Optum Ventures 🦠 Valora Therapeutics, Inc., a San Diego startup, raised $30M in seed funding co-led by Avalon BioVentures, Bregua Corporation, and TigerGene LLC. Valora focuses on immunotherapies based on sugars to target oncology and immunology, using antibody-lectin chimeras developed from Carolyn Bertozzi's research 🌳 Enveda, raised $130M in Series C funding led by Lux Capital, Dimension, Microsoft, Kinnevik. The company utilizes plant chemistry and machine learning to develop novel therapeutics for conditions such as obesity, fibrosis, chronic pain, and neurological diseases. The funding will support Enveda's pipeline of 10 drug candidates 🇩🇰 Adcendo, a Danish biotech company specializing in ADCs, raised $135M in a Series B led by TCGX. The Copenhagen-based company, with partnerships with Multitude Therapeutics and Duality Biologics, is developing new types of ADCs and plans to enter clinical trials soon. The funding will support the clinical proof of concept for two ADCs targeting tissue factor and uPARAP 💉 Versant Ventures unveiled Pep2Tango Therapeutics, a biotech developing next-gen obesity therapeutics targeting GLP-1, GIP, amylin, and calcitonin receptors. The company aims to overcome muscle mass loss and tolerability issues tied to GLP-1 treatments with its tetra-receptor agonist peptides New Financing Vehicles 🏦 Jupiter Bioventures, co-founded by former NCI Director Norman Sharpless and Nathaniel David, launched with a $70M fund to support early-stage biotech ideas. The fund has already created five projects and aims to turn ten ideas into three successful companies. Investors include Mayo Clinic, Mission BioCapital 🏦 Venrock added $500M to its healthcare investing strategy, separate from its $650M fund announced earlier in 2024. This new fund will co-invest alongside existing Venrock Healthcare Capital Partner funds, focusing on biotech and pharma opportunities For more biotech fundraising news, follow Liam Killingstad

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Still feeling energized from last week's roundtable on building successful relationships with hospitals. We invited 7 portfolio companies and health system leaders from Mayo Clinic, Cedars-Sinai and UCLA Health. The founders shared their questions ranging from the strategic to the nuts and bolts of closing partnerships. For example, how do you determine what measures of effectiveness help drive alignment? And how do you get all the stakeholders together to actually drive a decision. Answer: put them all in a room for half a day! “I think we're in a pivotal moment regarding how we assess AI. There are numerous risks currently dominating AI discussions, particularly those concerning bias and other associated risks. However, there's a notable absence of focus on evaluating the proactive value of AI. We need to consider what AI actually offers and what we want it to offer. It's not solely about determining whether it will cause harm; people are apprehensive about how this technology will be implemented. One perspective gaining traction involves ensuring the product's validation process is robust enough to prevent risks to various populations.” -Vladimir Manuel, Medical Director at UCLA Health From Vlad's comments above to perspectives others shared, we heard a sense of excitement for the promise of #AI and other new technologies. But we're also in a unique moment where the risks are not well understood. Still much to do here.

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Christina Farr authored the excellent article (with helpful contributions from Nathaniel Lacktman) on the potential impact of California's proposed law (California AB 3129) banning the MSO-Friendly PC business model for healthcare organizations. The description of the law as a "blunt instrument" is apt and the article is a useful read here: https://lnkd.in/gsDDqGNn The primary concern prompting regulators to pursue such drastic laws is that investor-funded healthcare businesses are driving healthcare costs up and reducing patient care quality. Blanket bans like the proposed law throw the baby out with the bathwater--a very concerning move given the size of California and the tech presence involved with healthcare in the state. I encourage investor-funded healthcare providers to evaluate meaningful strategies to combat this growing perception, sadly abetted by some notorious bad apples. In my work, we have helped organizations adopt the Value-Based Enterprise structure to both align the incentives of management and clinicians with #ValueBasedCare goals and build a governance structure suited to demonstrating progress in controlling costs and increasing medical care quality. There are a lot of great resources to reduce the time and capital investment needed to adopt this business model. We recently participated in a podcast with attorneys from Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough addressing just this topic. I will link to it in the comments if you are interested in learning more. #digitalhealth, #valuebasedenterprise, #healthcareinnovation

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We love seeing founders be able to keep their equity and take advantage of non-dilutive funding sources⚒️. We're excited to collaborate with Stacy Chin, PhD leader of KeepYourEquity.co, who has secured over $15M in SBIR/STTR grants for startups across various sectors. She's written a guest blog post sharing her insights on navigating the competitive landscape of grant funding 💰. Some highlights: ❇️ Understanding SBIR/STTR: A lifeline for startups, offering up to $2 million in non-dilutive funding! ⏺️ Learning how to overcome hurdles and capitalize on the golden opportunity. ❇️ Gaining essential tips on outlining your go-to-market strategy, choosing the right program, and preparing thoroughly. ⏺️ Benefiting from Stacy Chin's 10+ years of grant writing experience and her extensive track record in securing funding for startups. Read More in the blog post linked in the comment below 👇🏾 #SBIR #STTR #GrantFunding #StartupSuccess #SmallBusiness #KeepYourEquityCo #ShayCPA #cpafirm #techaccountants #startupaccountants #techstartup #techcompany #nondilutivefunding

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TL;DR: Solving a fundamental point of friction in US health care: affordability The LEAD team is excited to back The WiTT Group and Rahul Mahadevan in their latest financing round led by Sopris Capital to expand their impact efforts of distributing non-clinical support to patients more efficiently! "Financial toxicity for patients undergoing treatment in the U.S. healthcare system is a critical issue that needs urgent attention. What excites us about backing WiTT is its platform's unique ability to align incentives across key stakeholders and support patients in need in the community. It efficiently delivers financial and non-financial assistance to patients, driving improved treatment compliance for healthcare providers. We're excited to support their commercial expansion as they grow the most valuable, proprietary patient dataset focused on self-reported social determinants of health." CC: Thomas H. Rudy Kaiwen Liu Matthew Foran Sopris Capital Taylor Paul Abinav Sankar Charlie Regis Kendel Fiorentino

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Join us tomorrow for a panel discussion on the complex relationship many FirstGens have to money and how that affects founders, investors, operators and others. See you tomorrow! https://lu.ma/9rixyzgs

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Biotech Deals 9/20/2024 - 9/27/2024 New Funds ARCH Venture Partners: Led by Bob Nelsen, ARCH secured over $3B for its 13th fund, focusing on bold investments in next-gen biotech, including AI-driven ventures like Xaira Therapeutics, which raised $1B. ARCH continues to invest in areas like AI, mental health, and precision medicine despite a challenging funding environment YK Bioventures: Led by Gary Yeung and Mitchell Kossar, YK Bioventures is raising $100M, as per an SEC filing, to invest in biotech startups in fields like epigenetics, synthetic biology, and regenerative medicine. Private Markets Asabys Partners: The Barcelona-based Asabys Partners closed its second health innovation fund at $200M, exceeding its initial €150M target. For the first time, it attracted US-based limited partners. The fund will focus on biotech startups in Europe, particularly in oncology and neuroscience, targeting up to 15 startups in Series A rounds Private Markets Flagship Pioneering: Flagship launched Mirai Bio with a $50M investment to develop lipid nanoparticles that deliver genetic medicines to any tissue or cell type. Mirai will focus on partnerships to optimize delivery systems and genetic cargo, while utilizing AI to enhance delivery and medicine design Genespire: The Milan-based biotech Genespire raised $52M in a Series B to advance its gene therapy for methylmalonic acidemia. Led by new CEO Karen Aiach-Pignet, formerly of Lysogene, Genespire plans to use lentiviral vectors for the treatment, aiming for Phase 1/2 trials. The round was led by Sofinnova Partners Constructive Bio: UK-based Constructive Bio raised $58M in a Series A round led by Ahren Innovation Capital, OMX Ventures, and Paladin Capital Group, with support from Fine Structure Ventures, +ND Capital, and Jonathan Milner. The funds will support its cell engineering platform for producing molecules Vicebio: Former GSK vaccine R&D head Emmanuel Hanon secured $100M for Vicebio, a London-based biotech developing respiratory vaccines using "molecular clamp" technology. The funding will support trials for two vaccines: VXB-241and VXB-251. Backers include TCGX, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Avoro Capital, Medicxi, and venBio Cercle: Health data startup Cercle raised $6M in a seed round led by Outsiders Fund, with backing from FemHealth Ventures and CG Health Ventures. Cercle uses AI to organize anonymized health data into graphs for easier analysis by researchers and clinicians, starting with fertility data and planning expansion into women’s health, such as menopause and gynecology GC Therapeutics: Backed by $75M in funding, including a $65M Series A led by Cormorant Asset Management, LP Asset Management and a $10M seed round from a16z Bio + Health, GC Therapeutics aims to streamline cell therapy production. Using research from George Church’s lab, the company simplifies transforming stem cells into functional human cells in just four days. Follow Liam Killingstad for more biotech deals!

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CNBC: Marc Rowan of Apollo Capital shares a provocative perspective on the convergence of public and private equity, challenging concerns over daily mark-to-market fluctuations and liquidity discounts. He posits that the origination business could serve as the ultimate bridge between these realms, promising a tantalizing future for investors. This is a conversation worth tuning into. #origination #publicequity #liquidity

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The (Healthcare) Ground Beneath Our Feet… This year it is likely that over $10 billion will be invested in the digital health sector – a robust amount, no doubt, but inconsequential when compared to the amount of capital tied up in healthcare real estate assets, which is estimated to be $1.2 trillion by Jones Lang Lasalle. Of that amount, approximately $790 billion is in the hospital sector while the remaining $490 billion is in medical office assets. It is estimated that there are 48.6k facilities with 3.4 billion square feet of healthcare real estate, 42% of which are owned by REITs and another 33% held by other private investment vehicles. Much of the digital health investment is meant to make the physical healthcare infrastructure more productive: greater operating efficiencies, greater patient throughput, more relevant personalized care models with better outcomes. As the healthcare system is being pushed to be more distributed to lower cost sites of care, accelerated now by the rapid proliferation of automation and AI capabilities, the potential impact on healthcare infrastructure assets will be profound. Thoughts on what that might look like... https://lnkd.in/eTfAdUbS #digitalhealth Flare Capital Partners

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AI and Med Tech in Focus   AI System Developed to Identify Pathology in Tissues Engineers at Washington State University have developed an AI tool that uses images of human and animal tissue to detect abnormalities faster and more accurately than people. The AI algorithm was trained using images from past studies that involved kidney, testes, ovarian, prostate, breast and lymph node abnormalities. The new model detected disease in minutes—current processes take humans several hours and require specialized teams to check each other’s work. It was also found to be more accurate, sometimes detecting instances that humans had missed. The engineers designed the system to handle the processing load of the high-resolution gigapixel images by breaking them down into smaller tiles but still retaining the overall context of the tissue sample—akin to the zoom feature on a microscope or phone camera. Aside from getting diagnostic results more accurately and quickly, the new system also shows promise in epigenetics (the study of molecular processes that change gene behavior without changing underlying DNA). Epigenetic researchers can perform analyses and get results that used to take a year or more in just a couple of weeks. 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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Having a Cars and Capital event tomorrow in Southern California with Oren Klaff. If you want to join message me. https://lnkd.in/gDQ4D39u Oren Klaff Bridger Pennington #InvestorEvent #FamilyOffice #InvestmentOpportunity #CarlsbadEvent #PrivateEquity #WealthManagement #InvestmentConference #CapitalRaising #NetworkingEvent #IndustryLeaders #FinancialGrowth #InvestorsMeetup #WealthBuilding #BusinessGrowth #InvestmentForum

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I’m optimistic about the potential of generative AI to reduce provider burnout and improve provider-patient interactions. However, that optimism is tempered by the data that indicates the technology is not quite ready yet. Bright Ventures is interested in digital health founders who understand the realities of provider-patient interactions, and the role technology can play in strengthening clinical outcomes. Which founders and teams are getting this right? Tag them in the comments below.

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Interested in maximizing startup investments? Both large corporations and start-ups have much to gain from collaboration, but corporate venture capital investments need a clear strategy, focus, and operating model. https://lnkd.in/gEvVvq8z #privateequity #cfo #finance #strategy

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M13 is thrilled to lead the Series A in RadiantGraph which is focused on personalization in healthcare. As we continue to invest in early stage companies it is abundantly clear that the biggest indicator of success is the founder and his or her ability to execute on their vision of the future. In this case, I don't think I have seen much better founder-market fit than we have with founder and CEO Anmol Madan. We believe in his vision: in order to have the best patient outcomes in healthcare we need increased personalization and AI is the breakthrough to get us there. Anmol started one of the pioneering digital health companies Ginger and then was Chief Data Scientist at Livongo and Teledoc. He has done it all: early stage, late stage, public company. And he deeply understands the nuances of the healthcare market from all angles which is critical for success. While there are many players building healthcare-specific AI capabilities, RadiantGraph is focused on outcomes: The platform is already processing personalization models for more than 3.5 million people, despite launching just last year. Excited to partner with my friend Adam D'Augelli and the great True Ventures again and Morgan Blumberg who has been deep in the healthcare market with me for many years. More on our thesis in the blog below. https://lnkd.in/evDDmC3W

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