Amanda Eilian

Exciting news from Monica Chopra, Jeffrey De Flavio, MD, Samantha Adelberg, and the rest of the Auxa Health team as they officially announce their $5.2M Seed round. The team's deep industry expertise and drive for change have led them to solve critical infrastructural friction to providing quality healthcare and adoption of value-based care. Auxa's AI benefit navigation platform is simplifying the complexities of healthcare by streamlining all of the fragmented and siloed data and information to make it actionable in real-time for healthcare organizations. For the 70% of Americans who aren't getting access to the health and social care benefits they deserve, Auxa's solution will be pivotal in enabling equitable care. We're thrilled to partner with co-investors Zeal Capital Partners, AlleyCorp, Laconia, and Chaac Ventures on this journey and look to share many more milestones ahead. Cc K50 Ventures, Ryan Bloomer, Daniel Vásquez, Nick Talwar, Stefanie Ng https://lnkd.in/dPDY7-Db

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Our partner Eddie Eltoukhy has identified these opportunities in Biotech. Eddie has a PhD in bioengineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and over a decade experience as an operator. Reach out to him if you are working on these areas of biotech. Pear VC - Technology-Driven Therapeutic Platforms Companies developing therapeutic assets with a core product engine Proprietary tool, workflow, or samples leading to novel biological data sets Preference for omics platforms or high throughput screening / engineering workflows First-in-class or best-in-class drugs - Next-Generation Therapeutic Modalities Technologies to improve the efficacy, safety, access, or reach of next-gen modalities including the following: Genomic medicines (gene tx & gene editing) Cell therapies Targeted protein degraders Antibody-drug conjugates Radiopharma - Precision Medicine New technologies supporting the discovery of novel biomarkers and the generation of proprietary data sets for applications in: Disease screening Therapy selection Recurrence monitoring - Life Sciences + AI Software Platforms Software & AI-driven platforms to improve all aspects of life sciences R&D, including: Target discovery and validation Drug design and optimization Manufacturing Regulatory Clinical development

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The healthcare landscape is rapidly evolving, driven by advancements in technology and a deeper understanding of patient care. I had the pleasure of speaking with Ambar Bhattacharyya, Co-Managing Partner at Maverick Ventures, on the latest episode of The Full Ratchet. Ambar has partnered with numerous billion-dollar companies like hims & hers, Cityblock Health, Devoted Health, and ConcertAI. His unique journey from rural America to becoming a prominent figure in venture capital offers invaluable insights into the future of healthcare and technology. We discuss his investment strategy at Maverick Ventures, the megatrends shaping healthcare, the impact of AI on the industry, and the importance of integrated care. Ambar also shares his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities in healthcare investment, offering a comprehensive view of what lies ahead. Check out TFR Episode 438 to catch our conversation. You'll be glad you listened.

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Another large funding round in the virtual behavioral health space. It's interesting to note Talkiatry's focus on a physician-centric care model with W-2 providers, as opposed to most of the other players who are delivering care with 1099 mid-level therapists. However, it's still not clear to me how they are measuring care quality and outcomes, which is the foundation of true value-based care.

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#hiring If anyone knows an awesome engineer that would be interested in joining an emerging #AI company doing important work in #healthcare, please drop me a line! Andy AI is backed by General Catalyst, YCombinator, Greater Ventures, and others, and they’re looking to hire a full stack engineer (US based) who's excited about using AI to improve healthcare and reduce nurse burnout. Andy is AI software that automates clinical documentation for nurses who do home visits. A nurse makes an audio recording of the visit and Andy automatically generates a form that usually takes nurses 90 minutes to complete. Nurses love the product because it potentially saves them 15 hours of charting a week! The founders previously built healthcare AI at Google Health and Apple, and are now building their vision to transform home health. More about Andy AI: https://with-andy.com/ Nurses love it: https://lnkd.in/g9XqZrUq #GenAI #digitalhealth #hiring #engineers #healthtech

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The opioid crisis was a sad hallmark of my years working for the Baker Administration. In a time of extreme partisanship at the federal level, this was one area where public policy, civil discourse, and private enterprise seemed aligned and sufficiently motivated to find a solution. What we learned, however, is that dollars and access only go so far in combatting a disease that knows no so specific demographic. Instead, it's apparent that a battery of tools is needed to combat and prevent addiction--ranging from strong safety nets, to novel non-addictive pain therapies, and better technology. Introducing Marigold Health. Shrenik Jain, Ravi Shah, Tracey Cohen, MD, FASAM and team have built a proprietary NLP-based platform that--most significantly--improves the lives of those suffering from SUD/SMI. One customer we spoke with noted, "We needed a unique treatment intervention that had supportive research, fit into a CMS established model with a recognized service code, and that would provide positive clinical outcomes in an efficacious and fiscally responsible manner”. Another plainly said: "Marigold is our best hope to reach into the lives and help those who many have already given up on." Honored to join Bill Evans, Sean Day, and the entire syndicate in doing our part to scale a tool we believe will become essential in the fight against addiction. Marigold Health Innospark Ventures Rock Health KdT Ventures Matt Fates Lily Zarrella Venkat Srinivasan

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Today, Two Chairs announces $72M of new funding to continue building a world where everyone has access to exceptional mental health care. Since late 2017, when Maveron led the Two Chairs Series A, the need for mental health services has grown considerably as our society has become lonelier and more isolated than ever. At the same time, our culture’s willingness to openly acknowledge these challenges is greater than ever. Sadly, the rapid growth of Two Chairs affirms the fact that our society is in desperate need of better mental health support. Two Chairs has built a business that believes clinical quality is the defining characteristic of success. Alex Katz has always emphasized the paramountcy of measurement-based clinical outcomes, which the team works tirelessly to achieve. In the process, Two Chairs has illustrated that embracing the ‘move fast and break things’ mentality doesn’t always work. Instead, Two Chairs opted for a different approach: they went slow to go fast. They built a proprietary algorithm that matches patients with the perfect therapist at the onset and hired a team of W2 clinicians oriented toward providing the highest quality care available. Even as the Two Chairs team has grown, their culture has remained small. This has enabled more intimate relationships within the team and between clients and clinicians. Reflecting on this milestone brings me back to the founding of Maveron and the values we hold dear. In 1998, my friend Howard Schultz and I founded Maveron to help entrepreneurs build companies that improve the lives of everyday people—their employees and their customers. There is perhaps no better example of this than Two Chairs. *** Thank you to TechCrunch's Marina Temkin, CFA for the great write-up. https://tcrn.ch/4aMt7yG

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This article by the WSJ is critically important for public health officials and HealthTech entrepreneurs to internalize. We need multiple solutions for patients to move towards post GLP-1 usage. These solutions need to be easy to implement, non-disruptive to daily life and focused on caloric restriction , lifestyle change and muscle gain. Too many startups are still focused on GLP-1 prescription and delivery. Not enough people focused on the next stage of the weight management journey. As the Journal states, the benefits of the GLP-1 craze are only going to be successful long term if the transition off of them is successful. Otherwise, we risk unforeseen, long term consequences to a large group of patients stuck on GLP-1's with no healthy way to transition off. https://lnkd.in/dYBd3HaN Meghan FitzGerald James Stearns Dominic Perks John LaMattina Raju Kucherlapati

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A series for those interested in listening to transformational healthcare

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Today marks a groundbreaking moment for BLCK VC and our fellow collaborators—Diversity VC, All Raise, 2Gether-International, SomosVC, StartOut, and VetsinTech—as we proudly announce the launch of the Diversity Data Alliance. This important alliance underscores our unwavering commitment to nurturing a venture capital and entrepreneurial ecosystem abundant in equity and inclusiveness. By standardizing and linking our data, we empower ourselves with the essential tools to track deeper trends that have, until now, eluded us to identify and fill funding gaps for historically excluded investors, founders, and operators. We can’t change what we do not measure, and now with the Diversity Data Alliance, we're now equipped to do both. Join us in this mission. Learn more and get involved: https://lnkd.in/eEZKdrac #DiversityDataAlliance #BLCKVC #VentureCapital #MeasureToChange

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One of my proudest moments as an investor occurred today as Alaffia Health announced its series A because it shows how the Aperture® Venture Capital vision of multi-level, multi-generational #impactinvesting is succeeding in the marketplace. Here’s the model in its most basic form : ✅As diverse fund managers with meaningful capital to allocate, we are changing the VC landscape every day just by doing our day jobs. ✅As Black/Brown investors with ~40 years experience collectively, Aperture GPs have access to talent /excellence that others do not, so our portfolio *organically* is more inclusive by race, gender and geography even while optimizing for financial outcomes (all about the alpha). ✅Our most successful portco’s are using financial #innovation to solve market problems that impact underrepresented demographics and underserved communities. Alaffia Health is a shining example of the impact portion of our overall fund thesis, and we couldn’t be prouder of TJ Ademiluyi and Adun Akanni, MPH, PMP - the dynamic brother-sister founder duo whose vision we have steadfastly supported on their journey. Congratulations to TJ and Adun from William Crowder and myself, as well as the whole Aperture team- Marjorie King Philip McKenzie Yves Louis-Jacques Tanvi Lal Michelle Dhansinghani Lisha Bell Katie Kelly Amy Chung Cindy Chong, CFA Brian Fernandes-Halloran Monroe France Jayden Pantel Darren Herman Evan Wladis Neal Triplett Thomas Scriven Peter Ammon Irina Bit-Babik Tim Milanich Rob Rahbari

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Join us tomorrow for a panel discussion on the complex relationship many FirstGens have to money and how that affects founders, investors, operators and others. See you tomorrow! https://lu.ma/9rixyzgs

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My amazing cousin, Cleven Ticeson (https://lnkd.in/gWis4xX6) , a 14 time Emmy award winning producer for KCTS9 in Seattle, is a hero of mine. I grew up watching the educational shows like Bill Nye and the performing arts they would showcase. He was following the work I have been doing de-siloing the Black professional class working in venture scale entrepreneurship in the Pacific Northwest and composed a news reel covering Dreamward Group that moved me not only because he is my hyper-talented and dear cousin but because it voiced and gave me the perspective of the decades that what we’re building has been missing from the mass culture and my culture. Lewis Rudd once told me that the hardest target to hit is an invisible one and my dear cousin hit me right in the heart by speaking in his video about the unseen, but nonetheless felt, absence of inclusive capitalization of startups. Felt by the generation of Black people that watched the tech industry grow not only painting Black technologists and Black founders out of the heroic saga of tech, but Black funders as well. I am so glad that Dreamward Group is able to paint the target and make it visible through our work. Venture Capital, the financial backing of the tech industry, just like tech itself, had an evolution with foundational moments in the 70s on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley yet it’s mechanics, drama, and operation are largely unknown to the public that isn’t working in tech entrepreneurship. It’s trajectory and heights of accomplishment with Andreessen Horowitz and Madrona Ventures are parallel and analogous to Google and Amazon…But only the later two brands are household names to people outside of the industry. The world knows the story of Black people being excluded from Tech, It knows the story of Black people being excluded from executive leadership. It experienced the Obama administration and the depravity of the Trump backlash and had to ask itself why it had actively or passively participated in writing off Black professionals. Some of the world hears of Black founders getting less than 2% of invested capital, but even on hearing that, they don’t know the story of Black people being excluded from the role of deciding which startups get funded using a yet third party’s (often their own government’s) money…That is the story of Venture Capital today, and that’s what Dreamward is changing for the future.

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Flourish Ventures team is excited to back the indomitable Chris Brummer as he builds Bluprynt to transform the infrastructure for disclosures. We feel privileged to be part of an amazing group of industry leaders and backers working with Chris. Arguably, we are living through a pivotal moment for disclosures and trust and transparency in finance. The concept of financial disclosure became prominent with the Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934, following the 1929 market crash. Digitization began in the 1990s with EDGAR and XBRL in the early 2000s. Today, we face a new phase in disclosures with the integration of digital assets into the financial system. This evolution reflects market changes and regulatory responses, presenting an opportunity to transform the technological underpinnings of disclosure systems fundamentally. #fintech #digitalassets #crypto #disclosures https://lnkd.in/eme7fgDE

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I asked our gener8tor's accelerator staff this question: In your experiences, what traits, characteristics, practices, skills, talents, etc. help founders get the most out of accelerator programs? What patterns do you recognize in your alumni founders that make significant progress in and after the program? And I got some great responses. Read 'em here! https://lnkd.in/g82PyzaY

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As I said right at the start of this week's The Heart of Healthcare Podcast, Shivdev Rao is one of the most exceptional founders I have ever worked with. He is also a great human being. In this week's episode he shares what is it like leading the 🚀 that is Abridge and some awesome life lessons. IMHO this is a great listen for founders building in both the AI and healthcare fields!

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Too many small and mid-sized businesses struggle with capital constraints out of fear and misunderstanding. Sourcing the capital required to remove those constraints is key to unlocking the value creation potential of these companies. https://lnkd.in/gRYTKEmN #smallbusiness #businesstransformation

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Abby Levy talks about venture's role in US healthcare and what we can expect to see as technology impacts the space on TFR. Check out the rest of the conversation with Abby & Alan Patricof of Primetime Partners on Episode 433.

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Exploring a company formation idea at the intersection between generative AI (text and image generation), scientific publishing, and new incentives structures to promote ground-breaking, world positive science over incrementalism. Would love to talk to product leaders with experience in scientific publishing and/or product led-growth in the life sciences software vertical. Any leads much appreciated! #generativeAI #scientificpublishing #reproducibilitycrisis #H-index

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