News

Healthcare News and Deals – February 17th, 2025

Tufts University and Kaiser Permanente Launch Food is Medicine National Network of Excellence with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, CVS Health, Devoted Health, Elevance Health, Geisinger, and Highmark Health

The Food is Medicine National Network of Excellence aims to improve healthcare by integrating nutritional interventions into treatment models. It addresses issues like poor diets and food insecurity, which lead to health disparities and high costs. The initiative seeks to enhance patient care and promote health equity nationwide. (Link)

Abridge Raises $250 Million Series D with Elad Gil, IVP, Bessemer Venture Partners, California Health Care Foundation, Capital G, CVS Health Ventures, K. Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, N Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Spark Capital, and SV Angel.

Abridge, a leading generative AI platform focused on clinical conversations, aims to enhance its AI capabilities and support commercial expansion. The platform is implemented in over 100 health systems across the United States, improving clinical documentation efficiency by generating comprehensive, billable notes at the point of care and streamlining revenue cycle workflows. (Link)

Qualified Health Secures $30M Seed Funding from SignalFire, Healthier Capital, Town Hall Ventures, Frist Cressey Ventures, and Others to Revolutionize Healthcare with Generative AI Infrastructure

Qualified Health's platform offers healthcare organizations the tools to safely implement and scale AI solutions, addressing governance, security, and trust concerns. Qualified Health's platform capabilities include enforceable governance, healthcare agent creation, and post-deployment monitoring. The company aims to help healthcare systems overcome challenges in scaling AI, such as potential risks of AI hallucinations, PHI leaks, and biased outputs. (Link)

Boomerang Ventures Leads $2.6 Million Seed Round in Lizzy Care for AI-Driven Dementia Care

Lizzy Care's platform combines technology and companionship to support individuals with dementia. The seed funding will enhance the platform by integrating predictive analytics and real-time care coordination, ensuring proactive care. Lizzy Care aims to improve patient and caregiver quality of life while expanding services and developing technology for better care management. (Link)

Newleos Therapeutics Secures $93.5 Million Series A Funding with Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Novo Holdings, Longwood Fund, DCVC Bio, and Arkin Bio Capital 

Newleos Therapeutics is advancing oral small molecule drugs targeting neuropsychiatric disorders, including anxiety and cognitive impairment. Its lead program, NTX-1955, is designed to treat anxiety by specifically modulating GABAergic transmission in the anxiety brain circuit. The company plans to conduct proof-of-concept clinical trials for this and other programs. (Link)

Avandra Raises $17.75M Led by Aegis Ventures & SpringRock Ventures, with participation from Kompass Ventures Greater Ventures, Scott Gaines & Dr. MarkMontoney for Federated Medical Imaging Network

Avandra is creating the world's largest federated network for de-identified medical imaging data to enhance research and patient care by organizing medical images. The platform aims to solve access challenges, providing a marketplace for biopharma and researchers to drive innovation and improve patient outcomes through better access to valuable imaging data. (Link)

Endovascular Engineering Raises $42 Million with 415 Capital, S3 Ventures, Panakès Partners, M&L Healthcare, Santé Ventures, and Cordis 

Endovascular Engineering, Inc. (E2) is advancing its Hēlo™ PE Thrombectomy System for treating venous thromboembolism, particularly pulmonary embolism. The system is currently in pivotal trials, aiming to establish it as the gold standard in mechanical thrombectomy. E2 also appointed Dr. Ruben Osnabrugge and Brian R. Smith to its board. (Link)

Nexmedis Secures Funding Co-led by East Ventures and Forge Ventures 

Nexmedis aims to revolutionize healthcare in Indonesia by enhancing clinical services and patient outcomes. Founded in 2023 by Yehuda Dani Utomo, Matilda Narulita, and Dr. Almer Deta Tarandha, the company has served over 400 facilities and is developing AI tools, including a transcription tool to streamline operations. (Link)

Cleveland Diagnostics Secures $75 Million with Novo Holdings and Symbiotic Capital to Advance Cancer Detection 

Cleveland Diagnostics' IsoPSA test is a next-generation blood assay for prostate cancer risk, superior to traditional PSA tests. It reduces unnecessary biopsies by distinguishing high-grade from low-grade cancers. IsoPSA measures PSA protein changes, offering precise cancer detection. Cleveland Diagnostics is expanding IsoPSA's reach and developing tests for other cancers (Link)

Lynx Secures $27M to Simplify Healthcare Payments; Round Led by Flare Capital Partners with Participation from CVS Health Ventures, McKesson Ventures, .406 Ventures, Obvious Ventures, and Frist Cressey Venture

Lynx, a healthcare payments fintech, secured Series A funding to scale its API-based platform. The platform enables companies to create healthcare-focused products like CDH accounts and custom OTC storefronts. Led by CEO Matthew Renfro, Lynx's platform supports payment types including CDH, ICHRA, and Medicare Advantage supplemental benefits, allowing the embedding of financial accounts into user experiences. Victor Lanio will join Lynx’s board. (Link)

Events

HIMSS 2025 Global Health Conference & Exhibition

From March 3-6, 2025, health and technology experts will gather to discuss challenges and solutions in the healthcare industry. This event will host over 1,000 healthcare companies and startups showcasing innovative products. Key topics include health equity, AI, data governance, and digital transformation. Attendees can expect networking events and educational sessions (Link)

Health 2.0 Conference 

The Health 2.0 Conference is a leading global event focused on healthcare innovation, digital health, and emerging technologies. Taking place from March 4–6, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada, it brings together healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs, and technology experts to discuss advancements in AI, telemedicine, patient-centric care, and health tech startups. The conference features keynote sessions, panel discussions, networking opportunities, and showcases of groundbreaking healthcare solutions aimed at transforming the industry. (Link)

Utah's Life Sciences Industry Gears Up for 11th Annual E&I Summit in 2025 as 2024 Event Breaks Records

The 11th annual summit on March 13-14, 2025, convenes Utah's life science leaders and investors to discuss funding and commercialization. Presented by BioUtah and the University of Utah Technology Licensing Office, the summit follows a record-breaking year that saw over 450 attendees. (Link)

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