Today on Health in 2 Point 00, It’s a whacky SPACy world, as a new SPAC rolls “UpHealth” and has me singing Bob Marley, meanwhile there’s $91m for remote clinical trial software player Medable, $76m more for Spring Health joining the throng of mental health companies, while K-Health gets $42m to introduce chat bot front ends to Korean pop music…or something like that. —Matthew Holt
#Healthin2Point 00, Episode 168 | Is Amazon taking over the world of healthcare?
Goodbye health insurance, hello Amazon Prime membership! Today on Health in 2 Point 00, we talk about all the Amazon news now that they’re moving into pharmacy via Amazon Prime. Jess and I also discuss AliveCor raising $65 million for its personal EKG technology and Talkspace acquiring Lasting, a relationship counseling app. Levels raises $12 million in a seed round, adding more fun things you can do with your CGM, and another SPAC takes a company public—Barry Sternlicht’s SPAC is acquiring Cano Health at a $4.4 billion valuation. —Matthew Holt
#Healthin2Point00, Episode 167 | Bridge Connector, Togetherall, Solv Health & more
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, the big news is about another COVID vaccine… or is it the collapse of the telehealth and digital health market as we know it? On Episode 167, Jess asks me about Bridge Connector shutting down 2 months after getting a $25.5 million raise, UK-based online mental health platform Togetherall raising $10 million, Cerner partnering with Well Health for provider-patient communication services, Solv Health—the OpenTable for healthcare—raising $27 million, and Springtide raising $18.1 million for its clinic and platform for children with autism. —Matthew Holt
The Catalyst @ Health 2.0/Wipfli Survey on the State of Digital Health
By MATTHEW HOLT
Catalyst @ Health 2.0, supported by professional services firm Wipfli, is launching a survey about the state of Digital Health. We hope to get a comprehensive analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on digital health companies and the rest of the ecosystem. This survey should take under 8 minutes to complete (and probably less). For your time we will get you a copy of the results when they are released. As an added bonus TWO respondents drawn at random who complete the survey will get advertising for their company for 6 months on The Health Care Blog (worth $5,000).
We are interested in hearing from leaders working in digital health companies, or those connected to digital health in health systems, payers, life sciences, consulting or investment companies.
To take the survey CLICK HERE
NOTE–None of the data from this survey will be shared by Catalyst @ Health 2.0 (even with our friends at Wipfli) other than as aggregate survey results. So you can be assured that your answers are completely confidential.
Matthew Holt is Co-Chairman of Catalyst @ Health 2.0 & Publisher of THCB
#Healthin2Point00, Episode 166 | $100 million, scandal, & more
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, we have scandal, drama, intrigue, $100 million and murder! Wait, no; not murder. On Episode 166, we catch up on more deals before Jess gets carried away again. The $100 million goes to Carbon Health in a Series C, which is another Bay Area-based primary care startup; they’re doing a lot of work in COVID testing and growing fast. Next we have many health plans uniting with Cigna Ventures, Humana, and Anthem all investing in Buoy Health which just raised $37.5 million in a Series C. That leads us to a scandal with the former CEO of Navigating Cancer suing Merck’s Global Health Innovation Fund. Finally, in the world of DTx, NightWare has received FDA clearance for its Apple Watch app designed to wake people with PTSD up from nightmares. —Matthew Holt
Health in 2 Point 00, Episode 165 | Centene, Koa Health, Eko and Medically Home
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, there is so much to talk about between the election, the Affordable Care Act, and Pfizer’s COVID vaccine news. On Episode 165, we talk about how this is impacting the markets and cover more deals. ACA darling Centene has acquired Apixio, Koa Health spins out from Telefónica and gets $16.5M in initial funding, Eko raises $65 million in a Series C for their connected stethoscope and ECG, and Medically Home raises $40 million in another continuous clinic play, bringing their total to $65 million. —Matthew Holt
THCB Gang Episode 31 11/5
Episode 30 of “The THCB Gang” was live-streamed on Thursday, November 5th. Watch it below!
Matthew Holt (@boltyboy) was joined by regulars, CEO of Day Health Strategies Rosemarie Day (@Rosemarie_Day1), medical historian & health economist Mike Magee MD (@drmikemagee), fierce patient activist Casey Quinlan (@MightyCasey), writer Kim Bellard (@kimbbellard), and patient & entrepreneur Robin Farmanfarmaian (@Robinff3). The conversation revolved around the underlying value structures in America, what a Republican Senate looks like for the ACA, and how will the (at the time likely but not certain) Democratic Administration change the narrative around health policy.
If you’d rather listen to the episode, the audio is preserved as a weekly podcast available on our iTunes & Spotify channels — Zoya Khan
#Healthin2Point00, Episode 164 | Election Day Edition
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, Jess is wondering which European countries let Americans in without a quarantine. On Episode 164, we’ve got more deals for you. Human API gets $20 million seeking to make the world interoperable, Curve Health raises $6 million for its skilled nursing tech platform which has seen a bump in COVID times, 7Wire spends more of their Livongo money with $18 million going into Homethrive which does navigation for seniors, KēlaHealth raises $12.9 million in a seed round which applies AI to surgical outcomes, and Ontrak acquires behavior change platform LifeDojo. I’ll leave you with my forecast for the election and for the Senate, so we’ll see what goes down tonight. —Matthew Holt
Rehash: The Health Assurance SPAC
Not so long ago (August) Jessica DaMassa and I ran a THCB Bookclub interview with Hemant Teneja & Stephen Klasko about their new book UnHealthcare. And, just because, their friend Glen Tullman sat in…..
Fast forward to this week and the three of them plus a cast of characters from General Catalyst & Livongo (Jenny Schneider, Lee Shapiro) have put $500m of their Livongo winnings into a SPAC. The book is based on the idea of Health Assurance and so is the SPAC. So if you are interested in figuring out what they are up to and what they might do or buy, here’s the interview–Matthew Holt
#Healthin2Point00, Episode 162 | Whoop, Honor, Sidekick Health & more
Today on Health in 2 Point 00, Jess is dismayed at her rising premiums. On Episode 162, Jess and I have more deals to cover. Whoop, which makes a wearable, raises $100 million (including SoftBank money!), bringing their valuation to $1.2 billion. Next, Honor raises $140 million in a Series D and I weigh in on how this tech-enabled home care startup has evolved since it started out. DTx company Sidekick Health raises $20 million for its gamified medication management platform,, and SaaS telehealth platform eVisit gets $14 million—is this any different? Finally, Cricket Health which manages complex kidney diseases early names new CEO Robert Sepucha and raises $15 million. —Matthew Holt
