Issue 062

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 9 stealthy or under-reported digital health 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…

Nine secret health tech 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. (Outside of a couple of these getting mentioned in local news round-ups, these are all first in E&O — as far as I can Google.)

M&A: First up, a small acquisition deal. Two startups in the benefits navigation space got together: Medxoom acquired competitor Benezon last month. The announcement didn’t mention whether or not it was an all-stock deal — so it may have been bigger than the number below suggests if there was a significant cash component too — but the initial stock component of the transaction was about $2.4 million.

* 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…

$6.8 million – Watershed Health – Sells a “post-acute and care transition platform” and related services to health systems. Site

$6 million (see note below) – GenoPalate – The pitch: “GenoPalate uses curated evidence-based scientific literature to identify and validate gene-nutrition impactful relationships. GenoPalate further evaluates and scores the strength of these relationships in relation to metabolic health outcomes and uses our proprietary algorithm to link your DNA blueprint to nutrition recommendations that have been shown to benefit your specific genotype. We then match your nutrition recommendations with 100+ foods, allowing you to start eating for your genes!” One note on this funding from the company’s filing: “A portion … comprised of principal and interest from Company-issued convertible promissory notes… [was] converted into the Company’s equity securities.” Site

$4.1 million – Luminopia – The pitch: “Luminopia One is the first FDA-approved digital therapeutic for a neuro-visual disorder in children, indicated to improve vision in children with amblyopia. With Luminopia One, patients choose TV shows and movies to watch from a selection of 700+ hours of popular, engaging and educational content. Proprietary algorithms modify the selected videos in real-time within a virtual reality (VR) headset to promote weaker eye usage and encourage patients’ brains to combine input from both eyes.” Site

$2.7 million – nference – The pitch: “The exponential growth of biomedical data, driven by the adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs), provides an unprecedented opportunity to create transformative technologies and products in healthcare. nference partners with medical centers to turn decades of rich and predominantly unstructured data captured in EMRs into powerful solutions that enable scientists to discover and develop the next-generation of personalized diagnostics and treatments for patients worldwide.” Site

$2.1 million in equity and debt – emocha Mobile Health – emocha just renamed itself to Scene Health today, but the announcement didn’t mention this funding. The pitch: “Scene’s (formerly emocha) 360° model of care scales and enhances the gold standard of medication adherence, Directly Observed Therapy. Combining personalized video coaching, education, and motivational content, Scene brings healthcare professionals, patients, and their families together to solve the $500B medication nonadherence problem.” Site

$2 million – Proactive Diagnostics – The pitch: “Proactive Diagnostics is developing a Direct to Consumer (DTC) diagnostic product to quantify known acute and chronic inflammation biomarkers using sub10μL finger-prick blood. For an affordable price of $5/test and results available in 5-minutes, people will receive accurate snap-shots of their current state of inflammation on an as-needed basis from the comfort of their own homes. The results will be presented on their mobile device and can be shared with the primary physician. Combined with other personal information (e.g. food consumed, stress level workout, and sleeping hours) as well as local environmental information (e.g. allergen counts and air pollution) it will help identify the personal inflammation triggers and empower individuals to be in charge of their health.” Site

$1.5 million in debt and other securities – MedWand – The pitch: “Representing a breakthrough in miniaturization and accuracy of medical sensors, MedWand includes all the tools a clinician needs for a comprehensive virtual examination of patients via cellular network or WiFi internet connections.” The company’s all-in-one device is a thermometer, pulse ox, stethoscope, and more. Site

$1 million in equity and other options – GeoH – The pitch: “Software as a Service (SaaS) company that provides an end-to-end home care software solution.” Site