Capital Raising Activity

Moderna of Cambridge, MA, raises $500M, in Series G, bringing total funding to $1.7B

Moderna develops messenger RNA therapeutics and is now valued at $7.5B. The company is developing various vaccines and drugs by harnessing RNA, the key messenger that cells use to turn the blueprints stored in their DNA into proteins. The majority of the new investors were non-US players including Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Julius Baer.

Heartflow of Redwood City, CA completes its Series E, securing $240 million

The HeartFlow Analysis is a non-invasive technology that creates a personalized 3D model of the heart to help clinicians diagnose and treat patients with suspected heart disease.

The company has come a long way since its founding. The technology is now being used in several countries and have received coverage from many payers as well as CMS. We are all for non invasive diagnosis and super excited about this company.

Kallyope Biotech based in New York, NY raises $66M Series B to investigate the gut-brain axis

The company had already raised $44M in its Series A. Polaris and Lux Capital are amongst the investors. Kallyope technology attempts to pinpoint metabolic conditions like obesity, as well as neurologic conditions like Parkinson’s disease that can be associated with  microbes in our gut, such as stomach and intestinal disorders. Sounds like a promising technology to us particularly for neurological conditions.

Rani Therapeutics based in San Jose, CA raises $53M brining total raise to $160M

It is amazing that a six-year old company has raised so much money, but the promise of Rani is pretty significant. Rani develops a novel approach for the oral delivery of large drug molecules, i.e. converting injectable drugs into pills. This could improve the quality of life of millions of patients. The pill is essentially a sophisticated robot which can navigate through the stomach and enter the small intestine.

The company is still in pre-clinical studies phase. They are focusing on peptides, proteins and antibodies for now.  This is a great marriage between engineering and material science which brings the cost significantly lower where pills can be manufactured at high volumes.

Cota of New York, NY secures $40M in funding, with Sloan Kettering as an investor,  bringing total investment to over $60M

Cota stands for Cancer Outcomes Tracking and Analysis. The company collects select oncological patient level data from EHR to provide insights for oncologists, pharma, and payers. The company’s unique technology joins clinical data to cost, claims and utilization. Sounds like a promising combination.

Bio-Optronics, based in Rochester, NY draws $30M investment from Mainsail

The company was founded in 1985 and focuses on clinical trial management software sector. Additional functionalities include schedule and patient safety modules. Hospitals, VA and CROs are the primary customers of the company.

PAIGE.AI of New York, NY secures $25M in funding in Series A

The company’s technology is trained by the world’s foremost cancer experts on tens of thousands of digital slides. Their AI platform promises to develop a series of disease modules that enable pathologists to improve the efficiency of their work. In addition, down the road, the company plans to develop new treatment paradigms by capitalizing on its computation pathology platform. We are quite upbeat about the future of digital pathology. Look at how far we have come with the X-ray imaging.

Springbuk of Indianapolis, IN raises $20M in Series B

Springbuk uses claims, biometric, pharmacy and payroll data to target specific population of employees to assess the effectiveness of their wellness programs. More than 1,000 employers use the solution today. In addition to employers, the company also works with onsite clinics and benefit consultants. We like this company. We believe there is a place for an efficacy measurement solution so the employers can make sense of all the dollars they are spending on wellness.

Zipongo of San Francisco, CA raises $18M

The company is a digital nutrition platform offering personalized meal recommendation based on food preferences and medical history. The company sells primarily to employers. There are many apps in the market that help people eat and stay healthy. It appears that Zipongo’s recommendation engine is quite extensive which should lead to higher engagement.

Halo Neuroscience of San Francisco, CA collects $15M of funding

The company promises technology that uses light electric stimulation to induce a state of hyperplasticity in the brain. Athletes who are looking for improving their muscle memory and endurance are the prime target. May be even golfers can wing a better shot by using the technology! TPG led the round.

Mirror, based in New York, NY gets $13M to offer virtual fitness class via a smart mirror

The company will offer a hardware product that takes on the form factor of a full-length mirror. In the mirror, users will be able to see both their reflection and fitness content, including either live virtual classes or one-on-one training with an instructor. We are all for technologies that can motivate and encourage workouts.

Protenus of Baltimore, MD raises $11M from Kaiser Permanente and others

Protenus is a patient privacy company working on behalf of hospitals. We have extensively read about the colorful stories of ransomware and the dangers around patient data leakages. In 2017 alone 5.6 million patient records were breached. Protenus enables hospitals to audit access and prioritize true threats.

Homecare.com of Mclean, VA raises $11M

Todd Walrath, the CEO, has done this once before with Senior-Living.net. Now he is doing the same with home healthcare where families will be connected to the right providers. This is a crowded market, but then again the demographics are extremely favorable and the market is sizeable. 

ProgenyHealth of Conshohocken, PA receives investment from Sunstone Partners The company focuses on neonatal intensive care unit utilization and case management. They work with both commercial and Medicaid health plans aiming to, improve outcomes of premature and medically complex newborns. The company is the only one in the business with national footprint bringing together teams of neonatologists, pediatricians and NICU nurses to advise families for the first year of each infant’s life.

Insight Ventures invests in CentralReach of Pompano Beach, FL

CentralReach is a leading EMR and practice management company for behavioral, speech therapy, and PK-12 education markets. The company was founded in 2012 and it serves sectors that are either not widely covered or are experiencing high growth. The company has 500 clients and has grown double digit YoY.

Blue Ox Healthcare Partners takes a 30% stake in RXSolutions based in Boynton Beach, FL

RXSolutions serves consumers who have an income in the 200-400% range of Federal Poverty Level. They identify specific programs that the consumer is eligible for and then follows them throughout the process to secure the subsidies and medications. RXSolutions had 6,000 clients in 2017, an 80% rise form 2016. We are delighted to see that good investments can be made and social causes can also be served at the same time.