#60: At the touch of your fingertips 👉

Oct 3, 2021

Hey friends,

This week, DeepMind moves from protein folding to weather forecasting and finds itself facing legal action over its controversial use of NHS patients’ health data. The fertility landscape is undergoing rapid transformation with start-ups on track to hit $1B in funding this year, Oxford Nanopore skyrockets on London IPO and who are the winners of the NHSX Digital Health Partnerships Award?

News Bites 🥪

🐙 Octopus Ventures, one of Europe’s largest and most active VCs firms, predicts that fertility start-ups will secure $1B this year. This is compared to $2.6B invested between 2016 and 2021.

🧬 Shares in sequencing technology company Oxford Nanopore surge by more than 40% in one of the UK’s best-ever market debuts

🏥 Virtual ward startup, Doccla which has been using remote monitoring to ease pressures faced by NHS hospitals, raises £2.4M

🏆 NHSX announces 14 winners of Phase 1 of the Digital Health Partnerships Award. The award has been created to help NHS England organisations & partners with funding to accelerate the adoption of technologies that support patients with long-term conditions at home.

🧠 Minimally invasive brain implant restores sense of touch in fingertips, sparking hope for millions who have the lost ability to feel touch

☔️ Google’s DeepMind can accurately predict the likelihood of rain in the next 90 minutes, one of weather forecasting’s toughest challenges

but…

finds itself in hot water over its controversial use of NHS patients’ health data 🥵

What to Listen to 🔊

The HealthTech Podcast: The Story of Kinnevik with CEO Georgi Ganev

This week, James is joined by Georgi Ganev who leads Kinnevik, one of Europe’s leading listed investors in tech-enabled businesses backing some of the most exciting healthtech companies in the world including Babylon Health and Teladoc Health. Georgi is a tech expert with a passion for growth-stage businesses that are challenging incumbents and making life better for people everywhere…

The Health Foundation: The most challenging job in the country - Being chief executive of the NHS with Sir Alan Langlands

Being chief exec of the NHS is one of the most challenging jobs in the country. In this episode, Dr Jennifer Dixon talks with Sir Alan Langlands, former NHS chief exec from 1994–2000. Amanda Pritchard faces formidable challenges ahead: managing the pandemic’s impact, tackling waiting lists, boosting technology, managing a growing population of older people with multiple conditions & dealing with workforce shortages to name a few…

Opportunities 💰

💪 Want to join a purpose-driven organisation transforming mental health treatment?The UK's largest provider of online cognitive behavioural therapy, Ieso Digital Health, is hiring for a Clinical Director.

🤖 C the Signs is an award-winning healthtech platform using AI/ML, big data and NLP to help doctors detect and diagnose cancer earlier. They’re looking for an entrepreneurial doctor to join as Clinical Lead.