Portfolio News

Rock Health reports record digital health funding of $5.4B set to the backdrop of a pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic may have roiled the U.S. economy and caused unemployment rates unseen since the Great Depression, but that hasn’t stopped the flow of money into digital health, according to a recent Rock Health report. Rock Health’s 2020 Midyear Digital Health Market Update shows that six months into the year, investors have spent a record-breaking $5.4 billion on digital health startups. While the researchers said they expected a major slowdown in response to the coronavirus pandemic, that hasn’t been the case: although there was an...

Breakthroughs with the other C-word

While COVID-19 has justifiably been at the top of healthcare news, a major medical breakthrough has been quietly happening in the San Francisco Bay area—one that could detect another potentially fatal disease before it’s too late: Cancer. And the company responsible for this breakthrough? GRAIL. The American Cancer Society estimates that more than one out of three Americans will be diagnosed with cancer sometime during their lives. The cancer death rate has dropped significantly over the past 25 years, due largely in part to the increase...

Planned Parenthood asks companies to pledge to guarantee employee birth control coverage

McKesson Ventures portfolio company Hims & Hers is one of the first 12 national companies signing on to a pledge to guarantee employee birth control coverage, whether or not they are required to do so by law. Currently, under the Affordable Care Act, most employers are mandated to cover employees’ contraceptives through company health plans, but a forthcoming Supreme Court decision could change that. The court is planning to rule on two Trump administration rules that would allow employers and universities to deny health coverage for...

Accolade sets terms for IPO, aims to raise up to $211M in Seattle’s first public offering this year

On June 24, 2020, Accolade set the terms for its IPO. The startup will price 8.75 million shares at between $19 and $21, raising as much as $211 million. If it succeeds in raising that amount of money, its valuation will rise to around $1 billion. It will trade on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker ACCD. Accolade helps employees navigate their healthcare benefits using a range of technologies from machine learning to mobile apps. Employers are charged a subscription fee based on the number of...

‘Digital pill’ maker Proteus Digital Health files for bankruptcy

Proteus Digital Health, the maker of an ingestible sensor for tracking medication adherence, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on June 15, 2020.  In addition, Andrew Thompson stepped down as the company’s CEO, replaced by Lawrence Perkins of SierraConstellation Partners, who had previously been hired as Proteus’s chief restructuring officer. “Filing for bankruptcy protection allows Proteus to continue its sales process in a more concerted and efficient manner while continuing to run the business as usual,” Proteus said in a statement provided to MobiHealthNews. The news didn’t...