We’re swimming in a pool of money, health tech! Today on Health in 2 Point 00, we have over $1 billion and 3 acquisitions in this episode alone. First up is Ro, which just raised $500 million – they’re building quite the big healthcare company; their valuation is roughly double what Hims is trading and their revenue is a little bit more. Next, Appriss Health acquires PatientPing for $500 million and Everlywell acquires both PWNHealth and Home Access Health Corporation. Finally, our friends over at Ginger close another $100 million round. Be sure to tune into Jess’s interview with the CEO Russ Glass for the scoop. —Matthew Holt
#Healthin2Point00, Episode 193 | Evidation, Komodo Health, Bigfoot Biomedical & Glooko
On Episode 193 of Health in 2 Point 00, we have another huge day! We catch up on Amazon’s telehealth news before covering more massive deals. Evidation gets $153 million, bringing their total to a whopping $259 million and Komodo Health gets $220 million, bringing their total to $319 million. Bigfoot Biomedical raises $53 million for Type 1 diabetes care, and Glooko raises $30 million for their management system primarily working with diabetes clinics. —Matthew Holt
#Healthin2Point00, Episode 192 | Happify, 100Plus, Health Recovery Solutions—& Glen Tullman is back
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, we’re back with more deals as promised for our post St-Patty’s episode. On Episode 192, Jess and I have lots to chat about because Glen Tullman is back—he becomes the CEO of Transcarent, a new company which is going direct to employers and doing navigation and telehealth and centers of excellence. Despite the crowded space (especially after this week’s Doctor on Demand and Grand Rounds merger), Glen says there is huge demand from employers. Catch our interview with him on WTF Health. Next, Happify Health gets $75 million, bringing their total up to $123 million. I had an interview with their President Ofer Leidner on THCB Spotlight yesterday, so tune in there to find out about this mental health company delivering automated, self-service care. Finally, two remote patient monitoring companies get funding – 100Plus gets $25 million in a Series A, and Health Recovery Solutions gets $70 million in a C. How are these different and why is there all this money in RPM now? —Matthew Holt
Glen Tullman’s Return to Digital Health: In-Depth Chat on New CEO Role at Transcarent
By JESSICA DaMASSA, WTF HEALTH
As if one consumer digital health company with an $18.5B exit wasn’t enough, Livongo founder Glen Tullman has decided to give the transformation of healthcare another go – this time as Executive Chairman & CEO of Transcarent. Matthew Holt and I sit down with Glen to hear about the “new kind of experience” that Transcarent is offering self-insured employers and their employees: one focused on providing unbiased information, guidance for accessing high-value healthcare, and an at-risk model that promises to share back the financial benefits associated with better healthcare decision-making.
Could you consider Transcarent an aggregator, a healthcare navigator-PLUS, or is it more like a next-gen health plan that does everything but process claims? Glen talks about how his team was “asked” to jump into providing a better experience for this kind of healthcare service, details what the company needs next, and explains the role of Bridge Health, which merged with Transcarent in October 2020 when the company closed its $44M Series A. Familiar investors, General Catalyst and Glen’s own 7Wire Ventures, have led the funding for Transcarent and we find out if there will be any additional support from the Health Assurance Acquisition Corporation (the SPAC that Glen launched in partnership with General Catalyst’s Hemant Taneja and others) that could potentially provide a vehicle for taking the business public. And, what about Teladoc Health? With a seat on TDOC’s Board, does Transcarent’s commitment to offering “unbiased” direction to the best possible healthcare put Glen into a conflict of interest? This is one catch-up chat you’re not going to want to miss!
#Healthin2Point00, Episode 191 | Doctor on Demand & Grand Rounds merge, plus more staggering deals
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, it’s St. Patrick’s Day and to top off your green beer we’ve got plenty of green money. First up on Episode 191, the news we’ve been waiting for: Doctor on Demand and Grand Rounds merge. No SPAC here, but this is a real harbinger for the future. Strive Health raises $140 million – this is Google money, looking to reinvent chronic kidney disease care. Social determinants of health startup Unite Us raises $150 million, integrating social services into medical records to address the social determinants. Finally Clarify Health raises $115 million working with population health data for drug companies, hospitals, and health plans. —Matthew Holt
Ofer Leidner, Happify Health
by MATTHEW HOLT
Happify Health is a online mental health company that is focused almost exclusively on scaling care by offering self-service tech solutions across the patient journey. After R&D starting in 2012, they’ve been scaling since 2017 and now are working with large employers and big health plans. What they don’t do is have their own therapists or psychiatrists. This is an interesting approach and probably much more scalable than many of their competitors. Today they raised $73m more to build out their solutions. I talked to Happify Health’s President, Ofer Leidner about how far they can go with automated self-service. He thinks it’s a long way.
#Healthin2Point00, Episode 190 | Forward Health, Cedar, & Babylon
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, primary care appears to have jumped the shark because there is a deal in this episode in which the investors on the round are probably Jess’s favorite group of investors ever. Forward Health raises $225 million in a Series D – there’s Softbank money in this round as well as The Weeknd – but why didn’t they just go public? Patient billing company Cedar raises $200 million, bringing their valuation up to $3.2 billion, although I’m not too impressed by the concept. Finally, Babylon is making inroads into the U.S. from the U.K., buying a California-based provider group. —Matthew Holt
THCB Gang Episode 46, Thursday March 11
THCB Gang featured lawyer & privacy expert Deven McGraw, (@Healthprivacy), Health IT girl and WTF Health Host Jessica DaMassa (@jessdamassa), and policy expert consultant/author Rosemarie Day @Rosemarie_Day1). We’ve had far too many Y chromosomes on lately but also joining Matthew Holt (@boltyboy) for this one will be futurist Ian Morrison (@seccurve) and Fard Johnmar (@fardj), from digital health consultancy Enspektos.
We dove into the health care implications of the new $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, and had a great chat about where health and digital health go next.
If you’d rather listen to the episode, the audio is preserved as a weekly podcast available on our iTunes & Spotify channels
#Healthin2Point00, Episode 189 | DispatchHealth, TytoCare and Highmark Health
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, we’re wishing Jess a happy belated birthday! On Episode 189, Jess asks me about DispatchHealth raising a massive $200 million Series D, bringing their total up to $403 million, providing in-home urgent care. TytoCare raises another $50 million for their Series D, bringing their total up to $155 million, providing tech-enabled health at home with their device and providers. Finally there’s a partnership with Highmark Health, Google Cloud, Verily, and OnDuo – what’s going on with this lot? —Matthew Holt
THCB Gang Episode 45, Thursday March 4, 1pm PT – 4pm ET
Joining me, Matthew Holt (@boltyboy), on this week’s THCB Gang will be THCB regular writer Kim Bellard (@kimbbellard), medical historian Mike Magee (@drmikemagee), policy & tech expert Vince Kuraitis (@VinceKuraitis), patient safety expert and all around wit Michael Millenson (@MLMillenson), and consumer expert and current President of the Medical Board of California, Denise Pines.
Vaccines at warp speed, some “Neanderthal” state governors opening up, but also a pandemic bill passes the house with some health policy implications. Plus lots of fun and games in the world of digital health and startup health plans. We should have something to discuss!
You can see the video below live and the audio will be on our podcast channel (Apple/Spotify) from Friday
