Hongjie Hu

🚀 With this deck, Hinge Health Raises $300 Million in Series D at a $3 Billion Valuation 🚀 - Hinge Health, a pioneering startup in the digital health space, has just raised an impressive $300 million in its Series D round, securing a valuation of $3 billion! 🩺💰 - This funding round, driven by top investors, is a testament to the growing demand for innovative, tech-driven healthcare solutions. 👉🏻 Key Highlights: 🔷 Funding Amount: $300 Million 🔷 Valuation: $3 Billion 🔷 Lead Investors: A mix of leading venture capital firms and strategic investors. 🔷 Purpose of Funding: Expand product offerings, enhance R&D, and scale operations globally. 👉🏻Why This Matters: 🔷 Digital Health Revolution: Hinge Health is at the forefront of the shift toward digital-first healthcare, offering cutting-edge solutions for musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. 🔷 Scalability: This capital will enable Hinge Health to broaden its reach, making its services accessible to millions more patients globally. 🔷 Technological Advancements: Continued investment in AI, machine learning, and wearable tech will enhance personalized care and treatment outcomes. 👉🏻 Facts & Figures: 🔷 Total Funding: With this round, Hinge Health has raised over $426M, positioning itself as a dominant player in digital healthcare. 🔷 Growth Trajectory: The company’s valuation surged from $1B in 2020 to $3B in 2024, reflecting rapid market adoption and expansion. 🔷 Customer Base: Hinge Health’s platform serves over 400 employers and health plans, including 25% of the Fortune 500. 🔷 Innovation: The funds will fuel R&D, expand the product offering, and scale operations, particularly in integrating AI and remote care. 👉🏻 Strategic Focus: 🔷 Product Innovation: Introducing new features like real-time virtual physical therapy and AI-driven personalized care plans. 🔷 Global Expansion: Targeting new markets in Europe and Asia to address the global MSK pain crisis. 🔷 Partnerships: Strengthening collaborations with healthcare providers, insurers, and employers to enhance service delivery. 👉🏻 What’s Next? - Hinge Health’s innovative approach to MSK care is revolutionizing how chronic pain and injury recovery are managed. - With this significant financial boost, the company is set to further disrupt the healthcare industry by providing accessible, effective, and scalable digital health solutions. 👉🏻 Takeaway for Founders: - Strategic funding isn’t just about capital—it’s about positioning your startup for sustained growth and innovation. - For those keeping an eye on the health tech space, Hinge Health’s trajectory is a clear indicator of where the future of personalized healthcare is heading. 🔰 P.S.: Let me know in the comment section, which startup's deck you want to see next. #startups #founders #funding #healthtech #startupgrowth #india #venturecapital #digitalhealth #innovation

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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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Interesting report from PitchBook on first quarter Digital Health VC activity. - $1.1 billion in funding. Key late-stage deals were led by Transcarent ($126M) and Rightway ($108.8M). - The top investment categories were general & primary care ($213.4M) and health benefits navigation ($140.7M). Challenges & Trends: Valuations: Less than 20% of startups reported a priced round in the last 18 months, with an increase in extension/bridge rounds. Digital Therapeutics: Facing significant challenges due to elusive reimbursement and cautious investors. Better Therapeutics is winding down operations, and Akili is being taken private for $34M, a sharp decline from its peak valuation of nearly $450M. Telehealth: Setbacks include the shutdown of Optum's virtual care and Walmart's telehealth services. The pandemic saw over $15B in VC funding since 2020, but some platforms struggled with unsustainable business models and strategic missteps (e.g., Teladoc's costly Livongo acquisition and Amwell's delisting from Nasdaq). Looking Ahead: While digital therapeutics and telehealth face hurdles, there's potential in: Platforms integrating various treatments for conditions like diabetes, metabolic health, and mental health. Specialty telemedicine, B2B platforms, and hybrid-care models, which offer a promising investment outlook. Despite current challenges, strategic investments and a focus on sustainable models can drive the next wave of innovation in digital health. As a former digital health founder, I encourage founders in this space to keep going...there is light at the end of the tunnel! If you are a digital health founder with impressive traction based in Virginia, feel free to reach out! #digitalhealth #venturecapital #virginiaipc #virginiainvests

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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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After $400M of capital invested and 30 portfolio companies in health and pharma tech, we are excited to publish our SignalFire health and pharma tech sector thesis, 2024 edition and beyond! 👊 Here are 5 major trends that we're focused on 📈 If you are a founder building in any of these categories below, we'd love to hear from you! 1) Explosion of healthcare data creates both opportunities & risks in the GPT-4 era 2) PharmaTech is accelerating R&D, manufacturing & distribution to tackle inefficiencies 3) The labor shortage crisis and the need for AI to improve productivity 4) Aging population and the shift to hybrid, value-based care models in patients’ homes  5) Scaling access to lifesaving therapeutic breakthroughs: GLP-1s & CGTs Grateful to work closely with an incredible team focused on this sector including our legendary Eric Larsen, and partners in crime Sooah Cho, Tony Pezzullo, Sahir Raoof, Adele English 🙏 What gets me up every morning is our incredible portfolio, each of which making their own dent in our healthcare system for the better — Grow Therapy, Color, Ro, CodaMetrix, Health Gorilla, Verse, Wellth, PayZen, Recora, all.health, Bicycle Health, Form Health, Health Note, Osso VR, Praia Health, Freshpaint, Auxilius, Ovation, OrthoFX, Moxie and many others coming out of stealth soon 🚀 #healthtech #pharmatech #sectorthesis #innovation https://lnkd.in/gDE3nQqK

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🌍 Thrilled to share that Caresyntax has taken the World Economic Forum's Global Health Equity Zero Gaps pledge, further aligning with our mission to create a world with equal access to healthcare. This pledge focuses on closing the gap in healthcare access, affordability, and quality-key pillars of the WEF’s Sustainable Development Goals. Since joining the WEF’s Unicorn and Health Platform, we've enhanced our AI-driven surgical platform and expanded our ecosystem. Collaboration truly drives innovation, and the WEF has been pivotal in exploring new perspectives to make healthcare safer, more accessible, and efficient. By committing to this pledge, we’re contributing to a future where access to healthcare is a reality for all. Let’s continue pushing forward towards a more equitable future! 🌟 #Caresyntax #HealthEquity #SustainableDevelopment #HealthcareInnovation

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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 obesity crisis in the U.S. has become unsustainable. We are broken, and we have to change... The prevalence of obesity in adults has grown from 14.5% in 1975 to 41.9% in 2020, and childhood obesity has more than TRIPPLED since the 1970s. The total annual cost of obesity is at a staggering $1.4 trillion. Treatment options range but the emergence of GLP-1's has taken on a national debate. It is our view at 7wireVentures that the growing obesity crisis requires innovative and personalized solutions and digital health companies are rising to meet this challenge. Our team took a deep dive into the market landscape and came up with key predictions on how the market will evolve. ✨ PREDICTION 1: The emergence of high-cost anti-obesity medications and their growing consumer demand will push employers and payers to seek increasingly creative plan design structures that tackle weight management as a discrete disease category.​ 💉 PREDICTION 2: Greater emphasis will be placed on proactive identification and management of patients with an obesity diagnosis 🔬 PREDICTION 3: Key differentiators of successful solutions will include long-term engagement and the ability to address multiple chronic conditions. 🤝 Innovative companies such as 9amHealth, Parsley Health, Transcarent, Everly Health, Foodsmart, Livongo, Season Health, Iron Health, Cylinder, and more. See our full analysis and perspectives on enabling positive change in weight management. 👇 #digitalhealth #obesity #GLP1 #disease #healthcare https://lnkd.in/gUCttSZj

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Many companies find that navigating the complexities of fundraising can be daunting, but you don't have to do it alone. 📈 2024 Highlights: The number of biotech assets in phase 3 clinical trials has increased compared to 2023. 📊 Trend Over a Decade: Over the past ten years, the number of active biotech products in phase 3 trials has increased fourfold. 🏢 Current Landscape: More than 430 companies are currently funding these trials, reflecting an annual growth rate of 13.7% since 2012 🌟 This growth in late-stage trials is attracting more investment into the biotech sector. Investors are typically more confident in funding companies with advanced clinical assets, leading to potentially higher funding rounds and partnerships Whether you're an investor on the hunt for the next big opportunity or a company in need of funding, this group is here to link you with the right people: https://lnkd.in/ey4v9x3U

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#hiring If anyone knows an awesome engineer that would be interested in joining an emerging #AI company doing important work in #healthcare, please drop me a line! Andy AI is backed by General Catalyst, YCombinator, Greater Ventures, and others, and they’re looking to hire a full stack engineer (US based) who's excited about using AI to improve healthcare and reduce nurse burnout. Andy is AI software that automates clinical documentation for nurses who do home visits. A nurse makes an audio recording of the visit and Andy automatically generates a form that usually takes nurses 90 minutes to complete. Nurses love the product because it potentially saves them 15 hours of charting a week! The founders previously built healthcare AI at Google Health and Apple, and are now building their vision to transform home health. More about Andy AI: https://with-andy.com/ Nurses love it: https://lnkd.in/g9XqZrUq #GenAI #digitalhealth #hiring #engineers #healthtech

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Thrilled to see women's health innovation and investment gain unprecedented momentum. In the past 6 months, we've seen numerous foundational reports and analyses from influential organizations such as the WEF, NIH, Gates Foundation and more (on top of the The White House Initiative for Women's Health) that did not exist even a few years ago. Here's a roundup - would love to hear what else folks are seeing: 🚀 March 2024: "Can investors help women’s health break through the glass ceiling" article by Deloitte (jen radin, Christine D. Chang) https://lnkd.in/gAR4Jk7M 🚀 Jan 2024: "Closing the Women's Health Gap: A $1T Opportunity" report by McKinsey Health Institute (Lucy Perez, Valentina Sartori) and World Economic Forum (Amira Ghouaibi) https://lnkd.in/gznq2t8N 🚀Jan 2024: "2024 Could Be Women’s Health’s Long-Awaited, Much-Needed Standout Year" article in Forbes by Eva Epker (Avestria Ventures) https://lnkd.in/gGBPM_gR 🚀 Jan 2024: "Decoding Femtech Consumers: Defining Needs and Segmentation in Women’s Health" article by L.E.K. Consulting (Candace Nagaraja, Sheila Shah) https://lnkd.in/g-tGr8gK 🚀 Jan 2024: "Redesigning healthcare with women in mind" white paper and open letter by Kearney (Paula Bellostas Muguerza) and FemTechnology Summit (Oriana Kraft) https://lnkd.in/gemcfDcH 🚀 Q1 2024: "Femtech: Poised for growth" report by Deloitte (Heather Gates, Angela Vanscoy) https://lnkd.in/gkZGh_Cd 🚀 Dec 2023: "Innovation in Women's Health 2023" report by SVB (Raysa Bousleiman, Pooja Majmudar, PhD, Nina Kandilian) https://lnkd.in/gQR2qaHH 🚀 Dec 2023: "Investing in Motherhood Research Report" by Ingeborg Investments (Anna Mason, Devon Pasieka) https://lnkd.in/g9wKjaTi 🚀 Oct 2023: "Women's Health Innovation Opportunity Map" by The National Institutes of Health (Jamie White, Janine Austin Clayton) and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Maike Scharp, Ru-fong Joanne Cheng, MD, FACOG supported by Bethanie Thomas) https://lnkd.in/gqzzGFaD 🚀 Oct 2023: "Empowering Women’s Health: The Rise of Investment Opportunities in Women and Family Healthcare" article by Leerink Partners (Sasha Kelemen) https://lnkd.in/g8da2sUA 🚀 Oct 2023: "The Future of Women’s Digital Health Solutions" industry report by the Consumer Technology Association (Catherine Pugh, René Quashie) https://lnkd.in/ge_7WjjD cc: RH Capital

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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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Some VC investors believe that brick and mortar - referring to a physical presence of some kind - should be avoided at all costs. Yet, the track record of clinic and hybrid care businesses in health care indicates otherwise. ==> One Medical (sold for $3.9 billion to Amazon), Oak Street (bought by CVS for $10.6 billion), Lifestance (IPO at $7.5 billion market cap), and PE-backed Premise Health (acquired by OMERS Private Equity for $1.1 billion) If a clinic is indicated as the optimal way to deliver care for that patient population, there are creative ways to build and operate them. Full article below with advice and strategies on how to build and operate hybrid clinics from my teammate Anarghya Vardhana from Maveron, Amir Dan Rubin from OneMedical Group, Steven Eidelman from Modern Animal and more!

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🚀 NuFund Venture Group is thrilled to announce our commitment to invest in Synvect, a San Diego-based startup, spun out of UC San Diego, that’s making groundbreaking strides in tackling mosquito-borne diseases through innovative CRISPR-based solutions. 🦟🌍 Synvect’s technology is game-changing, and already demonstrated to reduce mosquito populations—targeting species , which spreads Zika, Dengue, and Yellow Fever. Synvect is offering an eco-friendly, scalable alternative to toxic pesticides. This investment showcases NuFund Venture Group ’s role as a key player in the San Diego startup ecosystem, consistently backing early-stage startups with bold visions and impactful technologies. We are proud to support Nikolay Kandul, Omar Akbari, and Pooja Y. Patel as they bring this technology to market, with potential applications well beyond mosquitoes. 🌎 Special thanks to Akash Pai, our NuFund Deal Lead for this investment, and the entire NuFund Due Diligence team—Ashley Mullen, Dean Rosenberg, and Douglas Swets—for their thorough analysis and unwavering support in bringing this deal to fruition. This investment highlights NuFund’s unique expertise in identifying and supporting deep tech startups. We excel at understanding complex technologies that other investors may overlook. #citybiz #SanDiegoAI #SanDiegoStartup #SanDiegoinnovation #SanDiegoVentureCapital #startups #investment #venturecapital #VCseed

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Check out this insightful panel discussion on precision therapeutics with our portfolio company Circular Genomics

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According to the latest report from Rock Health, digital health funding in Q1 2024 totaled $2.7B across 133 deals, with an average deal size of $20.6M. It doesn’t break out device-related investments, but most medtech founders I meet these days are being forced to chase tiny rounds made up of endless little checks, consuming valuable energy and slowing their progress. The benign neglect of this next generation of diagnostic and therapeutic devices is counterproductive and surprising. Given the crowded virtual care market, for example, I’d expect more such companies would be exploring medtech partnerships, investments or acquisitions that'd enable them to back integrate into delivering sharper, and more differentiated, care and treatment. This is exactly what Maverix Medical is doing from the other direction: Reshaping the entire spectrum of lung cancer care by integrating more advanced + effective approaches to screening and diagnosis, treatment and therapeutics, and even palliative care…And putting it all to work through an innovative provider network. One notable investor exception is Y Combinator partner Surbhi Sarna who’s been backing great teams like Selera Medical (YC W24) doing foundational work on ambitious medical devices. Without more support from investors like her, we’re going to increasingly find ourselves stuck with the incremental portfolio improvements from the incumbents, and that’s just not nearly enough.

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Had a blast diving into Amir Dan Rubin's extensive healthcare career on Vital Signs. Amir previously served as the CEO of One Medical and Stanford Health Care, was an EVP at United/Optum and is now the Founding Managing Partner at Healthier Capital. Our conversation spanned payer-provider integrations, lessons learned from leading One Medical, applications of generative AI, and more. Some highlights: ⚡Combining care models We talked a lot about the One Medical/Iora combination. Amir argues that just because two care delivery approaches may occupy the same physical location (e.g., a clinic), that doesn’t mean they necessarily need to conform to the same economic model. For instance, One Medical and Iora were able to combine effectively despite the former being a membership model and the latter being global capitation. Amir emphasizes that much of the overhead resources (e.g., front desk staff, phlebotomy) can be shared across models. ⚡How One Medical uses generative AI to improve efficiency One Medical allows members to message the care team, and then uses NLP to read the message, figure out its content, and triage it to the appropriate team member. Amir is excited about leveraging internal knowledge graphs to get around hallucinations. This approach can point to relevant internal data in helping compose responses, creating more trust and accuracy in the outputs. ⚡Behind the Amazon acquisition One Medical was interested in expanding its direct to consumer offering. However, they recognized that customer acquisition was costly, which is why partnering with Amazon Prime’s existing membership base made sense for them. Amir explains how at their core, both Amazon and One Medical are all about using technology and logistics to create an excellent customer experience. An awesome conversation ranging from health system innovation to startup strategy to health tech investing! Listen to our full episode below: Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wrbnol Apple: https://apple.co/3XWOomb

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A prospective $3.1 billion U.S. IPO in a market with very few listed early childhood education firms. This rare public listing highlights the growing global trend of scaling early childhood education companies, as private equity and large operators seek consolidation for operational efficiencies. With increased focus on education investments, this IPO could pave the way for more large-scale moves in the sector. #Education #EarlyYears #Earlychildhoodeducation #Childcare #Nurseries #Preschools #Edtech #K12Education #PrivateEquity #VentureCapital #ImpactInvesting https://lnkd.in/dTu3DyPS

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The last few days I've been attending SynBioBeta conference in San Jose, CA. Really cool innovations that are tackling big problems in health, industrial production, and climate. It was also AgFunder's AGM... some non-standard observations: 1- Venture markets are not back: it will not be a bounce, but a slow recovery 2- Smart startups are partnering with engineering/EPC firms earlier in their life. This is key to de-risk scale production from day 1. My first employer out of college Black & Veatch was a key partner in the growth of Tesla, and now they're active in the bio space 3- If you say you're AI, you better prove it. Nothing wrong with saying you're doing ML

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