Issue 045

Welcome back to E&O Mondays, the free newsletter from Exits & Outcomes that features health tech puzzles and trivia, new and under-the-radar funding news, paid content teasers and other digital health odds and ends.

 E&O Mondays.

In this issue:

• This week E&O rounded up 7 secret health tech fundings from recent weeks.
• Plus… a brand new Health Tech Rebus Puzzle.
• But wait: If this was forwarded your way, why not sign up as a paying subscriber to E&O by clicking right here…

Thanks for another big year of growth for E&O! Newsletters will return to their regular publishing schedule after the holidays.

7 secret (or under-reported) health tech funding deals from recent weeks

Instead of rehashing the dozens of funding deals you’ve already read elsewhere, I focused this week on a few deals that you likely have not yet read about. (These are all first in E&O — as far as I can Google.) * Keep in mind: Most of the amounts listed below are currently unannounced equity deals, so the full amount the company raises and eventually announces may be higher than the numbers you read here…

$19.7 million – Rupa Health – Notably, this company just announced a $5.8 million seed round in August that included First Round Capital, Lachy Groom, SV Angel, Floodgate, The Chainsmokers, and Jared Leto. “Lab testing is the key to a more personalized and holistic approach to medicine, and Rupa is paving the way with critical infrastructure for this next generation of healthcare. Through Rupa, practitioners can order testing not available through the average hospital such as DNA testing, microbiome testing, advanced fertility and hormone testing, and more.” Site

$14.8 million – firsthand – This company is still pretty quiet but job postings tell me its Series A comes from GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Triple Aim Partners. (Guessing this raise I found is the Series A.) The job posts also reveal that firsthand already has a national payer customer and that it’s launching in multiple states in 2022. “firsthand is changing the way individuals living with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) get care. We are focusing on delivering real outcomes for individuals that have historically been underserved, stigmatized, and deprioritized. By building technology and services focused on whole-person care, firsthand aims to find, establish a trusting relationship with, and support quality care for individuals living with complex presentations of SMI.” Site

$2.9 million – NotiSphere – “NotiSphere’s goal is to prevent recalled items from ever causing harm to a patient at a healthcare provider… At NotiSphere, we are addressing this with a digital platform that allows immediate and accurate communication between suppliers and providers, eliminating notice fatigue and errors, and reducing the time it takes for recalls to be acted on by everyone involved.” Site

$2.6 million – PainTheory – An online marketplace that helps patients find the right spine and pain specialists, and partners with providers to help them recruit patients. “PainTheory is the most efficient way for specialists to find niche patients through digital marketing. Our turnkey marketing system rapidly grows patient volume, while reducing variability and maximizing ad spend. For patients, PainTheory offers a more compassionate, comfortable experience for finding, researching, and receiving minimally-invasive care.” Site

$1.9 million via a SAFE – NourishedRx – “NourishedRx is the first smart, Food-as-Medicine market platform designed to drive lasting dietary change for health plan members. The company’s core AI-enabled platform matches at-risk members with personalized, Registered Dietitian–vetted high-quality meal offerings that leverage behavioral science to support lasting dietary change and, ultimately, improved health outcomes.” Site

$3.9 million in debt and other securities – Cecelia Health – Cecelia raised a $13 million Series B in August 2020. “Our technology-enabled personalized coaching solution optimizes patient health outcomes at high ROI for our customers and healthcare partners via a personalized mix of expert clinician and digital health interactions. Through an innovative telehealth model evolving from coaching to care, we work with partners to coach their members/patients and provide unique data-driven insights to health plans and ACOs seeking to improve quality measures, and pharmaceutical and medical device companies seeking to improve adherence.” Site

$589,000 in debt – Qure [dot] ai – Sequoia India led the company’s $16 million Series A in February 2020. “Qure [dot] ai is a breakthrough Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution provider that is disrupting the radiology ‘status quo’ by enhancing imaging accuracy and improving health outcomes with the assistance of machine-supported tools. Qure [dot] ai taps deep learning technology to provide automated interpretation of radiology exams like X-rays, CTs, Ultrasounds and MRI scans for time and resource-strapped medical imaging professionals—enabling faster diagnosis and speed to treatment.” Site

Health Tech Rebus Puzzle

Alright… time for another Health Tech Rebus Puzzle.

Here’s how to play: This kind of puzzle is called a Rebus. Write down or think of the word for what’s pictured in each box as a starting point. Then swap letters (if you see =), or remove letters (when you see -), or add letters (when you see +) at the beginning, middle, or end of the words as noted. Then sound it out.

Hint: (Not much of a hint this week.) One thing E&O plans to track much more closely in 2022 is…