Portfolio News

When emissions decrease, people’s asthma gets better

Air pollution has long been linked to respiratory problems, particularly asthma. Thus, it came as small surprise that a new study published in the journal Nature Energy by Columbia University, Harvard, the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, Propeller Health, and others, shows just that. In 2012, the city of Louisville, Kentucky, partnered with Propeller Health for a pilot called AIR Louisville, which enrolled city residents in a program to use Propeller’s sensor-enabled inhalers to gather data that allowed them to understand how local...

Matternet CEO: Drones would be helpful right now if we could deploy them at scale

Even for a company so well equipped to handle the COVID-19 epidemic—with contact-free drone delivery of medical supplies—Matternet is still facing some obstacles. In a recent interview with VentureBeat, Matternet CEO Andreas Raptopoulos talked about what the last few weeks have been like and where he wants the company to focus next. Because Matternet supplies services to the health care industry, it has been able to maintain a skeleton crew at its San Francisco office. However, the company has had to stop operations in three of its...

Doctors Struggle to Get Paid for Telehealth Visits

Telehealth usage during the COVID-19 pandemic has increased rapidly, compared with its previously slow uptake. In fact, telemedicine provider Amwell said that as of March 31, 2020, usage of its app was up 158 percent since January. In some hard-hit areas like Washington, app usage was up by as much as 700 percent at times. But despite the promises of increased reimbursement from the federal government and from private insurers, providers say they’re not being paid what they were promised, and certainly nowhere near what they...

Aledade Named One of the 2020 Best Workplaces in Health Care & Biopharma by Great Place to Work® and Fortune

Great Place to Work and Fortune have named Aledade as one of the Best Workplaces in Health Care & Biopharma for the second consecutive year. This year, Aledade ranked at No. 11 on the list. The honor represents nearly 800,000 employees working in the health care and biopharma industries in the United States. Great Place to Work, a global people analytics and consulting firm, evaluated more than 60 elements of team members’ experience at their workplaces. The criteria on which each company was evaluated include the...

What Startup Investing Looks Like In the Next Six Months

Women 2.0 recently spoke with several experienced female venture capitalists to find out what they think founders should expect in the next several months as they’re fundraising. Rock Health Director of Research and Marketing Megan Zweig was one of the interviewees. At the time of the interview, Rock Health had recently completed its Q1 2020 Digital Health Fundraising Report. “As early-stage digital health investors, we’re watching an incredible dichotomy unfold—some of the greatest macroeconomic uncertainty we’ve ever seen, alongside urgent, enormous demand for connected health care solutions,”...