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AlayaCare lays off 14 percent of employees, slows M&A plans (BETAKIT)
The Montréal-based healthtech startup has also scaled back its near-term merger and acquisition (M&A) plans and let two of its office leases expire in Victoria, British Columbia, and Queens, New York, as part of a broader push to become more cash-efficient. AlayaCare’s CEO said startup’s revenue growth has not followed its “aggressive investment.”
Incredible Health passes unicorn valuation as it bags $80M Series B (TECHCRUNCH)
The latest raise is led by Base10 Partners, with existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Obvious Ventures also returning to back the startup.
Other investors in the Series B include Incredible Health customer Kaiser Permanente; plus a roster of angels and funds including Workday CEO Chano Fernando; NBA Champion Andre Iguodala; Rethink Impact; Stardust Equity; and the D’Amelio family, including TikTok personalities Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, who joined the round via their 444 Capital Fund.
MolecuLight secures funding from BDC Capital, iGan Ventures for global expansion (BETAKIT)
These injections of new capital are earmarked for supporting the company’s global expansion as it aims to meet growing market demand.
Sema4 lays off 250 employees, founder steps down (MOBIHEALTH NEWS)
Combined with earlier layoffs from the first half of the year, Sema4 said it has cut approximately 30% of the jobs from its legacy business. Additionally, founder Eric Schadt is stepping down from his roles as president and chief research and development officer, as well as his position as director of the company.
Alberta Innovates is leading the evolution of healthcare as a connector, collaborator, convenor, and funder, driving improvement in the entire healthcare ecosystem. We’re shifting the paradigm from high cost, high acuity health care to personalized, self-managed care that’s digitally enabled and data informed.
In Alberta, we are combining our collective strengths to reimagine healthcare delivery while simultaneously creating new economic opportunities for our province. Together, we will build a bold culture ready to push boundaries, stretch our thinking and change the world.
Venture investment returning to pre-pandemic levels, shows Q2 2022 CVCA report (BETAKIT)
The economic downturn is leading to investment themes that bear resemblance to early 2020, when investors were cautiously deploying capital and concentrating on their existing portfolio companies.
Thirty Madison latest digital health startup to cut staff (FIERCE HEALTHCARE)
“In an effort to streamline our businesses, establish a greater focus on patient impact, and hold ourselves accountable in areas where we can be more efficient, we have decided to restructure the company. As part of that restructure, we made the decision to conduct layoffs, effective today. I own the decision, and to the team departing: thank you so much for your service to this company and to patients,” Steven Gutentag, CEO and co-founder at Thirty Madison said in a statement provided to Fierce Healthcare.
How startups can survive a market downturn (BETAKIT)
Katy Yam, partner at Real Ventures and GM of Founder Fuel, Peter Fishman, co-founder and CEO of Mozart Data, and Ethan Ruby, partner of analytics at Craft Ventures all spoke about how the right data can help startup leaders make survival decisions in a downturn.
China suspends major platform that doubted Beijing COVID policies (NIKKEI ASIA)
Regulators blocked platform Dingxiang Yuan’s (DXY) ability to post articles to accounts on popular social media apps including Twitter-like Weibo, WeChat and TikTok’s Chinese equivalent Douyin from this week, a source briefed on the matter told Nikkei Asia. The accounts will not be unfrozen without official approval, the source added.
Interaxon secures $9.5 million USD to roll out subscription model for brain sensing headband, Muse (BETAKIT)
The funding was jointly led by BDC Capital, Alabaster (family office of Sunny Vu, founder of Misfit), and Export Development Canada. It also included participation from new investors Phyto Partners, Iter Investments, Intretech(HK) Co, and The Clavis Foundation.
Amazon’s health ambitions sometimes clashed with medical best practices, nurses say (THE WASHINGTON POST)
“I wanted to feel like I was meaningful as a nurse,” said a telehealth nurse, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because she signed a nondisclosure agreement. “Not a cog in the Amazon machine.”
Lucid closes $3 million to turn music into medicine for Alzheimer’s patients (BETAKIT)
“This is much more than a feel-good app,” Amplify managing partner Kathryn Wortsman told BetaKit in an interview. “It is really rooted in clinical validation.” Lucid co-founder and CTO Aaron Labbé began his journey into the music-as-therapy space after contending with “a lack of empathy during the care process” through his own personal mental health challenges.
Signify Health to lay off 489 people, including 45 in Connecticut (CT INSIDER)
Brad Crain, Signify’s director of employee experience, told state officials the layoffs will begin on Oct. 1. The majority of the layoffs, 342, will involve individuals who are working remotely, according to Crain.
Market watch: Well Health, Dialogue Health (BETAKIT)
Well Health achieves record quarterly revenues, while Dialogue Health grows its revenues but posts a larger loss for the second quarter running.
Japanese DTx app maker CureApp to receive $51M investment from Carlyle (MOBIHEALTHNEWS)
The latest funds, which form part of the company’s Series G funding round, will support the rollout of CureApp’s prescription DTx app for the treatment of hypertension. It will also help advance the development of its pipeline DTx apps.
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