Venture Capital For Digital Health Is Down; Plus, The New Omicron Variant
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Digital well being enterprise funding hit $6 billion throughout 183 offers within the first quarter of 2022 with a median deal dimension of $32.8 million, in response to the latest report from Rock Well being. That is decrease than the $6.7 billion recorded within the first quarter of final yr and a major step down from the $7.3 billion in enterprise funding within the fourth quarter of 2021. The report notes that there may very well be one thing seasonal at play – in previous years, the primary quarter tends to be a low, if not the bottom, funding quarter. However the larger image query is whether or not that is an early indication of a “digital well being enterprise funding correction” and whether or not now we have seen the top of sky-high valuations that appear absurdly far faraway from income and buyer numbers.
And relating to the general public markets, the SPAC increase of 2021 appears to be going bust in 2022, as digital well being firms that went public through clean test firms have dragged down the averages relating to inventory value efficiency of the cohort. From July 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, the Rock Well being Digital Well being Index, a basket of publicly traded digital well being firms, was down 38% total versus unfavorable 5% for the S&P 500. The common digital well being SPAC share value fell 57% in the identical interval. “The rise-and-fall of COVID variants, power shocks, and inflation numbers sign murky waters for digital well being buyers, and Q1’s considerably restrained (dare we are saying rational?) funding numbers could mirror investor warning,” in response to the report.
The African Union Endorses Plan To Strengthen Healthcare Workforce In Wake Of Covid Pandemic
KALYESUBULA/SEED GLOBAL HEALTH
International public well being specialists Agnes Binagwaho, Githinji Gitahi, John Nkengasong and Vanessa Kerry talk about a brand new plan to spend money on the healthcare workforce in Africa, the place 36 out of 57 international locations face dire shortages. Learn extra right here.
Offers Of The Week
PathAI Partnership: GlaxoSmithKline has introduced it’s signed a multi-year partnership with Boston-based PathAI. The deal is geared toward accelerating analysis and growth applications for oncology and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.
Worth-Based mostly Cloud: San Francisco-based Make clear Well being closed a $150 million series D round led by the SoftBank Imaginative and prescient Fund 2. The fundraising is geared toward scaling the corporate’s value-based funds platform and cloud analytics capabilities.
Telehealth for Menopause: San Francisco-based Evernow, which has developed a telehealth platformed geared in the direction of ladies in perimenopause and menopause, introduced that it’s raised a $28.5 million series A round led by enterprise agency NEA.
AI For Listening: Eleos Well being introduced that it raised a $20 million series A round co-led by Eight Street Ventures and F-Prime. The corporate is growing software program that may pay attention to periods between sufferers and their psychological well being supplier, autonomously offering knowledge to fill out EHRs and aiding in serving to suppliers discover insights in treating sufferers.
Noteworthy
This week, Walmart started opening the primary of 5 new doctor-staffed “Walmart Well being” facilities within the profitable Florida market because the retail large appears to be like to increase low-cost healthcare providers to tens of 1000’s of its prospects.
A brand new report within the United Kingdom discovered that over 200 infants have died in avoidable ways over the previous twenty years at a western England hospital belief, which uncovered quite a few different questions of safety as effectively.
Walgreens is opening a brand new VillageMD clinic connected to a drugstore on common “each three days” this yr, the pharmacy chain’s CEO says.
Coronavirus Updates
Dating life has by no means been straightforward, however 63% of People presently on the lookout for romantic attachments say that life throughout Covid has solely made issues tougher, in response to a ballot by Pew Analysis. About one-third of respondents stated it made issues mainly the identical. However one factor has modified–over 40% of respondents say they might not date somebody who isn’t vaccinated for Covid. 56% don’t care about vaccination standing, however for many who’ve chosen to not get vaccinated, that’s another reason for potential companions to swipe left. (Apart from that 2% of People who will solely date somebody who isn’t vaccinated.) In life outdoors of courting, polls are discovering that People are nonetheless cautious of Covid-19. A brand new Kaiser Household Basis ballot discovered {that a} majority of People nonetheless aren’t getting again to their regular, pre-pandemic lives. An analogous quantity say they don’t need well being measures like masking to go away totally, and 80% report they’ve nonetheless worn a masks in a public place prior to now month.
Right here’s What We Know About Omicron XE — The New Covid Variant Discovered In The U.Okay.
Getty Pictures
A brand new Covid-19 variant that mixes two totally different omicron strains has been recognized in the UK, and it may very well be the fastest-spreading Covid variant but, in response to early knowledge from British public well being officers and the World Well being Group, although specialists warn it’s too quickly to find out if or how a lot of a risk the variant may be. Learn extra right here.
Different Coronavirus Information
Fluvoxamine, an inexpensive and broadly out there tablet used world wide to deal with psychological sickness, may be very prone to cut back the chance of being hospitalized with Covid-19, in response to new peer-reviewed analysis.
At the very least two Broadway exhibits have canceled performances this week on account of Covid-19 circumstances throughout the forged—and others are taking part in with understudies in main roles—with transmission starting to rise once more in New York Metropolis.
President Joe Biden introduced the nationwide moratorium on federal pupil mortgage repayments, which was one of many first Covid reduction efforts, will probably be prolonged once more, from Might 1 to August 31.
Shanghai reported greater than 13,000 new Covid-19 circumstances on Tuesday as town’s outbreak surges regardless of an ongoing lockdown, prompting authorities within the Chinese language monetary hub to indefinitely lengthen curbs that have been scheduled to finish this week.
Throughout Forbes
Forbes 2022 Subsequent Billion-Greenback Startups Record: Nominations Are Open
‘Mattress Mack’ On The Economics Of His Multi-Million-Greenback Sports activities Bets
Nigeria-Born Tope Awotona Poured His Life Financial savings Into Calendly. Now He’s One Of America’s Wealthiest Immigrants
What Else We’re Studying
America Is Staring Down Its First So What? Wave (The Atlantic)
What triggers severe COVID? Infected immune cells hold clues (Nature)
