Morgan Hewett

On this week's Andreessen Horowitz Raising Health podcast, Vijay Pande, PhD and I interviewed Tom Hale, CEO of ŌURA. Our conversation spans lots of fun topics, including: -- Our love for our Oura rings, despite them being literal “buzz kills” in revealing the ruinous effect of alcohol on sleep  -- How the worlds of consumer and healthcare are merging, as consumers essentially now have access to clinical-grade wearable devices  -- How AI algorithms are deployed in wearable devices & what wearables might look like 20 years from now (implanted into our bodies and clothes)  -- How the sexiest people sleep in earplugs and eye masks Check it out! https://lnkd.in/eTAsX_sY

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NY Climate Tech Founders! 1) YES PLEASE save the date to join us at #techweek (6/3!), and 2) YES PLEASE share your top NY resources to complete our NY INSIDER GUIDE, in collab with NYCEDC!

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Last month, founders and funders convened at Founder Collective's: Future Collective Boston 2024 Summit to discuss the evolving digital health landscape. It was a joy to have a candid conversation with many including co-facilitators: Giuseppe Stuto and Steven Lee. The conversation spanned key challenges and opportunities in the sector, with a focus on value-based care, AI integration, and market dynamics. VBC: A Long Complex Transition The shift towards value-based care (VBC) emerged as a central theme. Participants highlighted the difficulties in defining metrics for innovative care models. The lack of established benchmarks and slow adoption rates too often hinder progress. Many comments emphasized the misalignment of incentives in VBC and the gnarly complexities of attribution. We covered the impact of lengthy sales cycles, often spanning years, add another layer of challenge for startups in this space. AI It didn’t take too long for us to use our favorite vowels:AI. We discussed Thatch’s recent Series A funding round as an example of a company that is detangling some of the broken incentives in healthcare. Thatch is leveraging AI-powered tools, fintech infrastructure, and deep integrations to make shopping for healthcare as easy as possible. Investment Strategies in Digital Health The discussion also touched on investment dynamics in the sector. Healthcare is largely a service-based business, which correlates to missing out on the higher margins of a typical SaaS business. Given how challenging this space is, we discussed a tactic that is counter to most VC investing: back companies focusing on incremental improvements in healthcare delivery, not revolutionary paradigm-shifting plays. For the near term, the group recognized significant ROI potential in models that enable existing practices and known technology, rather than creating new standalone entities selling into difficult-to-scale and expensive customer bases. Looking Ahead: Policy Outlook Shifts The summit concluded with a debate on the future of healthcare systems. This conversation happened before we understood which White House Administration to plan for. While acknowledging that the current system fails to effectively incentivize long-term health outcomes, opinions were divided on whether policy changes or new business models would drive future improvements. There was a consensus on the need for innovation within existing reimbursement frameworks to catalyze meaningful change. The digital health landscape continues to evolve, it's clear that collaboration between founders, funders, and policymakers will be crucial as the regulatory environment shifts under the next administration. Drop links, reports, or predictions below on any early thoughts on how you think the sector will shift. Source: https://lnkd.in/ePfsv9iT

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This is wise advice👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

Another large funding round in the virtual behavioral health space. It's interesting to note Talkiatry's focus on a physician-centric care model with W-2 providers, as opposed to most of the other players who are delivering care with 1099 mid-level therapists. However, it's still not clear to me how they are measuring care quality and outcomes, which is the foundation of true value-based care.

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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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Severe mental illness remains one of the most underserved areas in mental health, possibly because it is difficult to address with the type of virtual, easy-to-scale models that VCs love to back. We're so excited that Sonia Priscilla García and Stas Sokolin at Amae Health have been able to break the mold, bringing better in-person solutions for patients and families dealing with SMI, and attracting strong venture partners to do so cc: Lisa Jacobs Blau, Alison Ryu, Claire Akkan Quiet Capital, Healthier Capital, Jan Ellison Baszucki, Karin Kissane, Mike Volpi

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It has been a week of climate at The Drop and another incredible one coming up with NY climate week! Another topic that's close to my heart: Spotlight on #femalefounders: There's been a recent decline in the aggregate number of female startup founders (down almost 2% in 2023), one of the lowest % in recent years. While this decline affects many traditionally active sectors (education, consumer, biotech, and SaaS), FemTech is a notable exception - with a 1000% increase in startups over the past decade. Still, in 2023 - only 1.4% of capital invested went to #FemTech, many citing the "ick" factor. To add salt, male-led FemTech startups have historically secured more funding than female-led ones. Many have written on this, including Cindy Gallop 👏🏻. This is a largely untapped and underfunded market - some argue the "Femtech Revolution" will exceed $103 bil. by 2030. I'm excited to see more funds with female partners executing deals - which will naturally #growthepie and increase the capital flowing to female founders. The #formula is simple: Female investors + female founder expertise puts us in solid position to solve the many issues that disproportionately affect women - from #healthcare, #FinTech and #sustainability. ⭐️I'm proud to work with the fantastic team at Emmeline Ventures - and if you haven’t heard: they are doubling down on this focused thesis. 👀 #WomenInTech #VentureCapital #Investing

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🚀 Calling all fundraising Boston Metro B2B tech startups! 🚀 Are you currently fundraising and ready to pitch in front of Boston's top angel investors and early-stage fund managers? On November 19th, Venture Lane | Startup Hub is hosting our exclusive Pitch Night 👉 - a rare opportunity for Boston Metro’s early-stage B2B tech founders to present their investor pitch live and connect directly with key decision-makers in the local investment community. We’re on a mission to showcase the next wave of standout B2B tech companies from Boston. If you're ready to elevate your fundraising efforts and make meaningful connections, don't miss this opportunity. ⏰ Apply by October 22nd to secure your spot! 📲 Find the application link in the comments below. #B2BTech #Startups #Fundraising #BostonStartups #PitchNight #VentureLaneStudio

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It was wonderful to be in conversation with Madison Mills of Yahoo Finance at their annual Invest conference earlier this week. We covered everything from the venture outlook for 2025, impact of elections on women's health investing and innovation, and more. Full clip and summary below 👇 https://lnkd.in/gS67sc2Y

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Next week is NY Tech Week, and on Wednesday, I'll be co-hosting TechWalk at 2 PM in Central Park. More details here: https://lnkd.in/eFey-aBd I look forward to connecting and chatting about the dynamic world of early-stage startup investing, go-to-market strategies, and the venture capital ecosystem. As a Venture Fellow at Fordham Angel Fund (FAF), I bring hands-on experience evaluating startups, conducting market analysis, and developing go-to-market strategies. Let's discuss founder due diligence, growth hacking techniques, and the nuances of crafting effective term sheets. I'm also passionate about discussing programs like Vencapital and Venture Cooperative that support minorities and women breaking into VC. Additionally, I'd love to share insights on content creation and storytelling from my experience hosting a YouTube podcast. If you're interested in personal branding, networking, or leveraging LinkedIn for career growth, let's connect! Join me for a walk and chat about the global business landscape, embracing diversity, and adapting to new environments. See you there! #NYTechWeek #TechWalk #Startups #VentureCapital #ContentCreation #PersonalBranding #Networking #GlobalBusiness #DiversityInVC

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Last week, I had the pleasure of moderating a discussion on navigating FOAK in climate tech at the Greentown Labs Summit in Boston (which had >600 people!!). Here’s a quick rundown of what was shared by Katherine St. James of Spring Lane Capital, Paris Smalls, PhD of Eden GeoPower, and Hannah Friedman of Planeteer Capital: 🌱 What is the definition of FOAK? We discussed how the term can be controversial - it's almost too general because it doesn't identify what kind of "First" FOAK refers to - first team project? First geography? First of a technology in a sector? First time for the integration of a system? It's also too specific because it has the word "first" in it, which can be anathema to later stage / project finance investors. 💰 Partnerships for Funding FOAK Projects We discussed how important it is to build a blended capital stack & use off-balance sheet capital for a project so you're not using the most expensive equity dollars to fund an infrastructure project with low-ish IRR. We also talked through being creative about using corporate partners to provide in-kind services or ink some agreement (at least an LOI) to attract this funding. 🏛 Role of Government We talked about how government capital is seen by investors & how it can be catalytic for FOAK. Government capital can provide validation that a startup has passed a rigorous diligence process by a third party - and incentives like grants or credits can help improve returns for the first project- but it's important to be doing this in conjunction with getting customer validation and to be able to present line of sight to competitive economics without concessionary capital. 👥 Advice for FOAK startups The panelists offered some very specific pieces of advice for startups going through FOAK: how to get creative with things like revenue sharing agreements or convertible notes, getting smart with project development early on (like with DeveloperU), being careful about using FOAK too liberally with certain investor groups, getting the right commercialization / FOAK talent in and around you early Huge thanks to the panelists and the team at Greentown Labs (Jill Kirkpatrick, Julia Travaglini, Aisling Carlson, etc you rocked it!!) for hosting this discussion on bridging the FOAK gap. Also immensely enjoyed the rest of the agenda. Check out the full recap & videos here: https://lnkd.in/d9ApYe9Y #ClimateTech #FOAK #ClimateFinance #ProjectDevelopment #GreenTech #CleanEnergy

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🗽🌳 Exciting News for NYC Tech Community! 🚀 Join us for an invigorating Venture Walk & Talk, proudly part of NY Tech Week! Scheduled for June 4th from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM at the scenic Maine Monument in Central Park, this unique event is hosted by Founders Committee Ventures. 🌟 Why Join Us? Imagine a relaxed stroll through the beautiful pathways of Central Park, where you can disconnect from the digital world and engage with NYC’s finest founders, angel investors, and venture capitalists. This is more than just a walk; it’s an opportunity to forge meaningful connections, share innovative ideas, and enjoy the great outdoors—all within the heart of Manhattan. ✨ Event Highlights: - Network with industry leaders and peers - Brainstorm new ideas in a refreshing setting - Enjoy the vibrant atmosphere of Central Park Whether you’re looking to collaborate on new projects, explore potential investments, or simply enjoy a break from the office routine, the Venture Walk & Talk is the perfect occasion. 👉 Registration is open but spots are limited and approval is required. Don’t miss out on this chance to be part of something special during #TechWeek. Lace up your walking shoes, grab a coffee, and let’s make strides together in the tech ecosystem! 🔗 https://lu.ma/wj9o67iy See you there for a breath of fresh innovation! #NYTechWeek #TechNetworking #StartupLife #VentureCapital

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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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StartUp Health Launches 12 New Health Moonshot Communities: Call for Applications https://lnkd.in/e_NjchVb Apply to Join a Health Moonshot Community today. Health Moonshot Communities bring together vetted, mission-aligned founders and CEOs to solve the biggest health challenges of our time. Members of our Health Moonshot Communities are leading startups with breakthrough technology-driven solutions for the world’s biggest health challenges. Whether grant-backed, venture-backed, customer-backed, or bootstrapped, our members are looking for 100% mission-aligned wisdom, connections, and support. StartUp Health are currently accepting applications for the following Health Moonshot Communities. Access to Care Addiction & Opioid Crisis Alzheimer’s Disease Cardio Metabolic Health Children’s Health End Cancer Food Is Medicine Healthy Longevity Mental Health & Wellness Oral Health Rare Diseases Respiratory Health Type 1 Diabetes Women's Health https://lnkd.in/e_NjchVb

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$125M funding and Melinda Gates’ $250M new health fund—game-changing moves in women’s health and consumer brands this week. Here’s what’s shaking up the space: ♡ Women’s Health & Beauty ♡ LEVY Health Secures $4.5M in Funding to Bridge the Reproductive Care Gap by Empowering Providers Melinda French Gates launches a new women’s health fund Maven Clinic raises $125M Series F for women and family health Claudia Schiffer is the new face of Rhode ♡ Media, Entertainment & Creator ♡ The Female Founder World Summit 2024 is coming up on Nov 2 How influencers make money - a podcast Kamala Harris digital cover and interview ♡ E-Commerce, Retail & Social ♡ Summer Fridays named the top startup in Los Angeles for 2024 The glory days of the pop-up store are over – What’s next? Mytheresa to acquire Yoox Net-a-Porter in equity deal with Richemont ♡ Tech, Business, & Investing ♡ Export your brain with AI, according to a16z, Andreessen Horowitz’s new investment thesis AI can jump-start consumer brands, say investors and founders PepsiCo trims revenue outlook as North American snacking, key international markets lag You can read more in this week's issue of ICYMI: https://lnkd.in/gcCQBrEv #consumernews #litrendingtopics

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