#241 - Try not to trip...😵💫
The one-minute healthtech roundup, brought to you by SomX.
Hey friends,
This week: WhatsApp-based AI chatbot making waves in Nigeria, European healthtech raising big bucks and mice living life on the edge.
Your friends all listen to podcasts. Feel like you’re in on the conversation by listening to the Healthtech Pigeon podcast ➡️ Belle and Amy from SomX break down the best stories from this week’s newsletter with help from Faces of Digital Health podcast host, Tjasa Zajc. Available now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
News Bites 🥪
💻 Jane partners with Whereby to deliver secure and reliable virtual healthcare appointments – Who doesn’t love a collaboration that makes virtual doctor visits feel more like a real appointment? By integrating Whereby’s video technology directly into Jane’s clinic management platform, users can now schedule and conduct secure video calls without the hassle of extra apps or downloads. With over 200,000 practitioners already using Jane, this upgrade is a big win for anyone tired of glitchy telehealth calls.
💰 Europe’s healthtech and AI startups raise $13.9B in Q1 as global investors return – Everyone can relax… European healthtech and AI startups are still investor’s darlings, pulling in $13.9B in Q1 2025. Phew! Healthtech led the charge with $4.3B, marking its fourth quarter at the top, thanks to some seriously hefty funding rounds. AI wasn't far behind, scooping up a cool 25% of all VC cash. Safe to say, Europe’s startups are thriving and investors are happily throwing money at anything that says “health” or “AI” on the tin.
🇳🇬 Aproko Doctor’s healthtech startup wants to be the first point of health contact for Africans – Dr. Aproko is swapping viral health videos for virtual healthcare with AwaDoc, a WhatsApp-based AI chatbot aiming to guide Nigerians through their medical journeys. AwaDoc promises to be a smarter, easier way to figure out what might be wrong before panicking or googling “Why do I have a fever?” at 2am, with the search results subsequently telling you that you have 3 months to live.
🚺 Driving fertility and perimenopause innovations for women’s health – Word on the street is fertility tools just aren’t cutting it anymore. Frustrated by these vague tools, Dr. Amy Divaraniya built Oova, an at-home hormone test that trades guesswork for real insights by measuring a variety of hormones. Despite the challenges of fundraising while pregnant and battling a male-dominated investment world, she has raised millions. Now, Oova’s helping women track their fertility and perimenopause with personalised, lab-quality data at home.
👾 The future of mental health: How medical devices are changing the game – If anyone were to trust Pigeon to run a VC fund, Pigeon would definitely invest in a mental health startup or two. In the UK, nearly half of adults have faced diagnosable mental health conditions, but many don’t receive any treatment. However, the silver lining is that new tech, ranging from VR social anxiety apps to wearable devices for depression and anxiety, are offering non-invasive alternative to traditional therapy, making mental health care more accessible.
🧠 Single-dose psychedelic boosts ‘brain flexibility’ for weeks, study finds – Turns out, a single dose of a psychedelic compound 25CN-NBOH can do wonders for the brain’s flexibility. The study showed that mice given this compound performed better in cognitive tasks, specifically those testing flexibility in adapting to new rules two to three weeks after the first dose. This opens new possibilities for treating conditions like depression, PTSD, and neurodegenerative diseases. Pigeon would love to give it a go, strictly for research purposes only of course…
💊Myoform launches personalized supplements that redefine athletic performance through genomics – Myoform is shaking up the supplement industry by offering personalised formulations based on your DNA and health goals. After a simple saliva test, they create custom supplements designed to optimise performance and make you feel like an elite athlete, or at the very least, a smidge healthier.
What to listen to 🔊
Events 📅
LSX World Congress
⏰ April 28-30
📍 London
OBN Science Social
⏰ April 30
📍 Oxford
Future of Women's Health Innovation, Research + AI - Expert Panel + Networking
⏰ May 2
📍 London
Breaking Barriers: How Society Shapes Mental Health Outcomes
⏰ May 9
📍 London
Mena Telehealth & Virtual Care Expo
⏰ May 13-14
📍 Riyadh
Hash It Out: Secrets to Success in Healthtech
⏰ May 13
📍 London
Visit the SomX events page or subscribe to SomX’s events roundup to see all of the best upcoming healthtech, biotech and healthcare events.
Opportunities 🕵️♀️
🌎BCG X 2025 Social Impact Accelerator – Calling all innovators, Pigeon’s got a surprise for you! BCG X are offering a full team of tech, design, and business talent to help accelerate your project. Whether you are a startup, NGO, or social enterprise, this is your chance to scale up your business. They aren’t asking for any equity, and what’s even better? It’s free! So, what are you waiting for, applications close May 2nd, get a move on!
👷Full Stack Engineer, Apoha – If you work your best when on you have autonomy, ownership, and the room to do some creative problem-solving, then why not look into this new opportunity? You’ll be given the reigns to drive major parts of Apoha’s software stack and lead the design and implementation of a novel data analysis platform. Pigeon isn’t quite sure what that means, but it sounds cool!
💻Lead Product Engineer, Ufonia – Do you know exactly what makes a good product? Are you an expert in TypeScript? Do you have excellent interpersonal and communication skills? Looking for your next big break? Answered yes to those questions? Tired of Pigeon asking you questions? Fair enough. You know what to do.
🧑🎨 Senior Product Designer, ZOE – The one is for the folks who aren’t just passionate about health, but obsessed with creating products that actually make life better. If you’re all about impact, innovation, and doing work that matters, then ZOE’s got a role with your name on it.
Got news, jobs or events you think is worth coo-ing over? Let us know! Email us: news@healthtechpigeon.com
Healthtech Pigeon is curated and produced by SomX, the communications and creative agency for healthcare. We are clinicians, scientists, creatives and communicators dedicated to serving our healthtech, biotech, pharma and public sector clients with services across strategy, content, PR, design, events and media production. Get in touch to learn more.