Portfolio News

The DTC coronavirus home test kits are here

The process of COVID-19 testing is already overwhelming the U.S. health care system, tech companies are using their infrastructure to make testing accessible to more people. Health startups EverlyWell, Nurx, and Radish announced their own versions of at-home testing kits, while Hims launched a COVID-19 screening as part of its telemedicine offerings. EverlyWell’s test costs $135. Nurx says its newly added coronavirus testing kit and consultation fee is covered by most insurance providers. Radish says it won’t be keeping profits from its $100 test, but instead...

Telepharmacists Keep Rural Care Going

Morristown, Indiana, population 1,300, was at risk of becoming one more rural health care desert, lacking both a local pharmacy and easy access to basic medical services. But a partnership between Hancock Health, a leading regional health system, and Amwell, has given the residents of Morristown a pharmacy and medical services. A triangular health care network connecting a newly opened Medicap pharmacy hub in Morristown to doctors at Hancock Health through one fiber-optic link, and to an older Medicap pharmacy in Greenfield, Indiana, through another. The pharmacy...

Health tech investment trends: How are investors positioning for the future of health?

The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions recently provided a report full of insights into the quickly emerging health tech sector. For the report, the company interviewed 15 health technology investors and analyzed data from 2011 through 2019 from the Rock Health Digital Funding Database. The years 2018 and 2019 saw rapid increases in investments into well-being and care delivery innovators, as well as innovators who were leveraging AI, machine learning, and the Internet of Things to enable their products and solutions. According to Rock Health data, funding...

Sexism is Built Into the Algorithm

Men’s wellness and personal care service Hims may have raised eyebrows when its ads for hair loss and erectile dysfunction solutions (all framed in a hipster-friendly format) began appearing in the New York City subway system. But nobody pushed back against allowing the ads in the first place. The same thing was not the case for Brooklyn-based Dame Products, a sexual wellness company that engineers innovative sex toys and sells sexual wellness product for women. Apparently “the frank, cheerful language that resonates with its female customers...

hilary coles, co-founder and vp of product at hims & hers

The Cnnekt recently interviewed Hims & Hers Co-founder and VP of Product Hilary Coles, whose company gives easy access to medical-grade products that aren’t always in reach. She and the company are also normalizing conversations about topics such as hair loss, erectile dysfunction, birth control, and sex drive changes. As a female founder of Hims, medical-grade products targeted towards men, the article’s author wondered how people at the company accepted her role given her gender. “After growing up in Canada with access to universal health care...