Biotech & Health
Read the latest news about biotech and health, from the latest health tech and medical devices to research in synthetic biology and genetics. Our biotech coverage has startups and research from around the world in context with industry and investment trends.
Allozymes puts its accelerated enzymatics to work on a data and AI play, raising $15M
Allozymes uses a method in which millions of enzymes can be tested per day, rather than just a few hundred.
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UnitedHealth data breach should be a wake-up call for the UK and NHS
The ransomware attack that has engulfed U.S. health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group and its tech subsidiary Change Healthcare is a data privacy nightmare for millions of U.S. patients, with CEO Andrew Witty confirming this week that it may impact as much as one-third of the country. But it should also…
How Y Combinator’s founder-matching service helped medical records AI startup Hona land $3M
Y Combinator’s founder matching tool has quietly become one of most powerful offerings. That’s how medical records AI startup Hona was founded.
Peloton to lay off 400 employees as CEO Barry McCarthy departs
Peloton, the exercise equipment maker, said it is laying off 15% of its workforce as part of cost-cutting measures.
UnitedHealthcare CEO says ‘maybe a third’ of US citizens were affected by recent hack
Two months after hackers broke into Change Healthcare systems stealing and then encrypting company data, it’s still unclear how many Americans were impacted by the cyberattack. Last month, Andrew Witty,…
Tiger Global-backed Innovaccer in talks to raise $250M in new funding, sources say
Innovaccer, a health tech startup that aggregates patient data across systems and care settings, is in advanced stages of talks with investors to raise as much as $250 million in…
Midi is building a digital platform for an oft-overlooked area of women’s health
When Joanna Strober was around 47, she stopped sleeping. While losing sleep is a common symptom of perimenopause, she first had to go to multiple providers, including driving 45 minutes…
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How European disability tech startups are leveraging AI
Making life better for people with disabilities is a laudable goal, but accessibility tech hasn’t traditionally been popular among VCs. In 2022, disability tech companies attracted around $4 billion in early-stage investments, which was a fraction of fintech’s intake, for example. One reason is that disability tech startups are often…
neuroClues wants to put high-speed eye-tracking tech in the doctor’s office
The eyes aren’t just a window into the soul; tracking saccades can help doctors pick up a range of brain health issues. That’s why French-Belgian medtech startup neuroClues is building…
Xaira, an AI drug discovery startup, launches with a massive $1B, says it’s ‘ready’ to start developing drugs
Advances in generative AI have taken the tech world by storm. Biotech investors are making a big bet that similar computational methods could revolutionize drug discovery. On Tuesday, ARCH Venture…
A few weeks back, TechCrunch ventured out to New Jersey to pay an early visit to HAX’s Newark offices. As much as I complained about the 90-minute commute in from…
Clarity Pediatrics raises $10M for treating ADHD and other chronic childhood conditions
Raising young kids who have been diagnosed with, or are suspected of having, ADHD can be challenging. Some children with this condition may have difficulties completing school work or grow…
Two Chairs raises $72M Series C in equity and debt to scale its therapist network
When Alex Katz founded Two Chairs in 2017, he firmly believed that in-person therapy is the most effective for behavioral health. Two Chairs used technology — a proprietary matching algorithm…
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Generative AI is coming for healthcare, and not everyone’s thrilled
The broad enthusiasm for generative AI is reflected in the investments in GenAI efforts targeting healthcare. But is healthcare-focused generative AI ready for prime time?
Virtual physical therapist Hinge Health lays off 10% of its workforce
The 9-year-old Hinge Health offers a digital solution to treat chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions and was last valued at $6.2 billion in October 2021.
Neurotech startup Neurovalens gets FDA clearance for noninvasive anxiety treatment
A 2019 rule change by the U.S. medical devices regulator aimed at encouraging innovations targeting insomnia and anxiety is bearing fruit: Neurovalens, a Belfast-based startup that for over a decade…
Deal Dive: EarliTec Diagnostics raises $21.5M to help diagnose autism earlier
EarliTec’s FDA-authorized device helps clinicians diagnose children showing signs of autism as young as 16 months old.
Varda Space’s orbital drug factory success fuels $90M in new funding
Varda Space Industries has closed a massive tranche of funding just weeks after its first drug manufacturing capsule returned from orbit. The company’s $90 million Series B round marks an…
HD raises $5.6M to build a Sierra AI for healthcare in Southeast Asia
Chatbots have come a long way. For years, they were limited to responding with predetermined replies that followed a simple logic structure. But customers can have complex problems, and no…
It’s rare that I come across a pitch deck that ticks almost all the boxes. It’s so good, in fact, that I fed Plantee’s deck into an AI tool I…
YC-backed Pelago, a virtual clinic for addiction treatment, raises $58M Series C
Pelago, Y Combinator-backed telehealth company that uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help treat people with tobacco, alcohol and opioid addictions, said Thursday it had raised a $58 million Series…
Food-as-medicine startup Chiyo helps postpartum moms with nutrition after raising $3 million
Unlike other meal service providers that want you to be customers for life, Chiyo’s goal is to get you off of its program.
Metyos is building a biowearable to monitor chronic kidney disease
Alexandre Boulanger is better known for building self-balancing exoskeletons at Wandercraft. For his next trick, the Paris-based robotics entrepreneur is fronting work on a far lighter kind of wearable: An…
Profluent, spurred by Salesforce research and backed by Jeff Dean, uses AI to discover medicines
Last year, Salesforce, the company best known for its cloud sales support software (and Slack), spearheaded a project called ProGen to design proteins using generative AI. A research moonshot, ProGen…
Calmara suggests it can detect STIs with photos of genitals — a dangerous idea
You’ve gone home with a Tinder date, and things are escalating. You don’t really know or trust this guy, and you don’t want to contract an STI, so… what now?…
India’s Ultrahuman is prepping for a growth year. Today it’s announcing the close of $35 million in Series B* funding, a mix of equity ($25 million) and debt. The smart…
PocketHealth eases doctor-patient communications with easy image exchange
Have you ever needed a copy of your medical imaging to take to your doctor or another healthcare provider and been handed a CD? You’re not alone. Many radiologists still…
Cure51 raises a €15M seed round aiming to crack the code on cancer survival
Rather than grimly assembling data about cancer deaths to predict outcomes in treatment, the founders of Cure51 had another idea.
The CareVoice raises $10M Series B, bucking the funding slowdown in health tech
The field of insurance technology has had a rough time. About 7 years ago, early insurtech companies promised to disrupt the insurance industry with new tech, but today, most of…
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Want to see an NHS doctor? Prepare to cough up your data first.
To get a doctor’s appointment in the U.K. these days, you have to entrust more of your data to private companies — and there’s not a great deal you can do about it. In part due to growing pressure from the government to meet a two-week limit for patient appointments,…
