Hi friends,
This week: What is the NHS app for? How high is The Shard in dollar bills? And why is David Bowie’s worst record relevant to healthtech?
News Bites 🥪
🍆 Does size really matter? $80bn sextech market still too taboo for VCs - Pigeon can’t beat this headline for innuendo without stepping over some fairly large editorial red lines.
💰With $520 million in hand, two entrepreneurs try to upend the biotech funding model - You could upend most things with $520 million. Even just withdrawing it from an ATM and wedging it under something* would result in one end being up. #strategy
👨🎤 A new wave of startups are tackling financial issues within the healthcare space - Sometimes, two things that are separately great become a lot worse when combined. Think Mick Jagger with David Bowie. Mayonnaise ice cream. Toothpaste and orange juice. But Healthtech and Fintech mashups? That’s crossing a line.
👶 Digital mental health tech for children and young people recommended by NICE in first rapid healthtech guidance - Four digital technologies that can help children and young people with mild to moderate symptoms of anxiety or low mood have been recommended for use in the NHS once they achieve regulatory approval.
📱 Is the NHS app the answer to everything? - Clearly not. It would be a weird response to someone asking “How are you?”, for example. But this, from Rory Cellan-Jones, is a thought-provoking look at how it evolved and what the future might be.
💰Asabys Partners announces €100m first close for health and biotech fund - Looking to back 12-15 startups in the UK, Europe, Israel and the US having closed €100m.
🩻 Frimley Health launches getUBetter app for musculoskeletal patients - Despite sounding like a 90s R&B banger, getUBetter have a great MSK track record, and are rolling out in Frimley. ‘Rolling out’ as in ‘launching’, not the 90s R&B meaning. [Stop talking about 90s R&B, you’re obsessed - Ed.]
What to listen to 🔊
💬 #291 Transforming clinical communication with co-founder and CEO Roseanna Jaggard - In this episode, James is joined by Roseanna Jaggard, serial entrepreneur and co-founder and CEO of DocComs.
💬 The Healthtech Pigeon Podcast - Join Jessica, James, Jess, and Sifted’s Kai Nicol-Schwarz, as they run through the week’s healthtech news.
Opportunities 🕵️♀️
🌱 Founder/CEO in Health-tech Pre-Seed Venture (Project Chiron) - You will not know the meaning of Project Zeus Chiron until the time is right for you to know the meaning of Project Chiron.
🍽 Head of Clinical Product & Operations, Simply Health - Good perks on this, and the interview process is very nicely laid out. Top marks, Simply Health.
🍑 Backend Developer, Peppy - Pigeon’s personal trainer tells me that squats are the best backend developer, followed by deadlifts. Is this a childish joke? Yes.
*If you’re wondering how high $520m stacked up is, assuming the stack is one dollar bill wide, it would be 566.89m high, which is roughly twice the height of The Shard. File that under ‘U’ for ‘useless’. NB - This figure does not allow for weight based compression on the notes, or any other factors, including a strong gust of wind blowing them into the Thames. Why are you still reading this? You’ve learnt nothing in the last 40 seconds. Go on, get out of here. We’ll see you next week.