Issue 066

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

 E&O Mondays.

In this issue:

• Read on for eight stealthy or under-reported digital health funding deals…
• But first: If a friend recently told you to subscribe to E&O, they probably meant the paid version. The E&O Mondays newsletter is great and all but you’re missing the real deal: Sign up as a paying subscriber to E&O by clicking right here…

Eight secret health tech funding deals from recent weeks

Instead of rehashing the dozens of funding deals you’ve already read about, 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 — unless otherwise noted.)

First an update: Two weeks ago E&O broke the news that Pearl Health had a big round of funding. Government filings showed the company had raised at least $55.5 million. Since that issue went out the company did announce a big Series B to the tune of $75 million. More here.

* 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. Read on for more funding you might see reported elsewhere in the weeks ahead…

$36 million in debt and convertible promissory notes – Twill (formerly known as Happify) – Twill banked at least $36 million in debt over the summer but just posted a security filing about it in recent weeks. The filing states the total offering amount was $100 million but that field is often a random number the company picks when filling these out. Twill has built on its D2C Happify roots in recent years and now works with big employers, health plans, and pharma companies too. Here’s Twill’s pitch if you aren’t familiar with how they’ve evolved since rebranding from “Happify”: “By combining digital therapeutics, well-being products, community-based care, clinician-trained AI, and live coaching and telebehavioral health, Twill intelligently guides each person to the care they need, when they need it, in the way they want.” Site

$28.1 million – FirstHand Health – Notably, the $28.1 million is from a single investor. Curious to see if the announced amount is larger and includes others’ contributions — like previous investors. It’s difficult to get a helpful quote from this company’s site on its technology efforts but it is a tech-enabled health services company. It just focuses most of its marketing language on things other than its tech: “firsthand is changing the way individuals living with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) get care –-by putting them at the center of everything we do. Our peer led model aims to build trust with these individuals, many of whom have been underserved, stigmatized, deprioritized and have very often lost trust in the systems intended to serve them. Our holistic approach includes partnering with our licensed social workers and nurse practitioners, and focuses on meeting them where they are and walking with them side by side, as a trusted guide, partner, and first call, on their journeys to wellness.” Site

$8.8 million – Fort Health – This children’s mental health telehealth startup started up at the end of last year with help from the Child Mind Institute. It started out accepting patients solely in New Jersey and planned to move into New York state at the start of the year. The pitch: “The all-in-one solution for your family’s mental health journey. Find out how Fort Health can support your family. Book a free consultation with a therapist.” Site

$5.7 million – HealtheMed – This company’s leadership team includes the founder of MinuteClinic Steve Pontius. Here’s the pitch: “Clinic@Home by HealtheMed is a first-of-its-kind digital system of care that improves the lives of Minnesota Medicaid CADI and all other waivered clients by breaking down the barriers to access for essential health and wellness services they need.” Site

$5.1 million in equity and other securities – Pre Health – Here’s an interesting Massachusetts-based startup. This one is developing wearable technology that it says will help prevent health “disasters”. It is still operating in stealth but a recent job posting gives a lot away: “We are a well-funded, near-launch stealth startup introducing the next evolutionary step in wearables, unlocking unprecedented new capabilities. We play at the intersection of hardware and software, human and machine learning, and consumer and medical to create new-to-the-world capabilities and experiences. We are a tight-knit team of serial entrepreneurs and ex-Bose engineers – our CEO’s last startup was acquired by Bose, leading to the worldwide launch of Bose sleepbuds. We focus on achieving results through creativity, passion, team building and plain old hard work. We are nice people, like and respect each other, and love our pastry Fridays. Our first mission is to apply our cutting-edge wearable to improve the lives of people suffering from Dysautonomia (e.g. POTS, Orthostatic Hypotension, ME/CFS, Long COVID).” No site yet.

$3.1 million – pRxcision – This company has developed a clinical decision support tool focused on personalized dosing of medications. It looks like it is taking an initial focus on antibiotics overuse based on this description from a recent venture pitch competition: “Unintended misuse of antibiotics leads to societal and financial impact to hospitals and insurers. By using pRxcision broadly to support the personalization of antibiotic prescribing in a hospital setting, tens of thousands of needless deaths per year could be prevented, and antibiotic resistance could be reduced, extending their time and scope of value and effectiveness.” No site yet.

$2.6 million – CyMedica Orthopedics – This company: Here’s CyMedica’s pitch for its product, e-Vive: “The ONLY muscle strengthening therapy and patient engagement solution. Comfortable, at-home muscle activation through Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES). App-controlled design allows for simple operation through virtually any smart device. Data capture technology collects key patient metrics and allows healthcare providers to monitor patient progress in real-time.” Site

$2.3 million – MedTrans Go – (This funding was mentioned in a local business journal based in Atlanta, but I haven’t seen it elsewhere so figured I’d include it.) This startup is a care coordination company focused on medical transportation. Here’s the pitch: “MedTrans Go is a B2B technology platform that provides medical practices, hospitals, and facilities with reliable services in medical transportation, interpretation, home health care, delivery, and more for their patients.” Site