Emily Casey

What’s happening in healthtech? 💊🎉 💰The Vic Gov will invest $7.5M to fund researchers to create 50 new startups  run by Breakthrough Victoria 💻 Safewill, bagged $17M to expand services like digital wills, power of attorney, & probate assistance 🧘‍♀️ Pronto Pilates snagged $1.6M in crowdfunding, to disrupt reformer pilates with affordable, trainer-free classes 💼 Hostplus committed $125M to VC, backing startups through IP Group plc Innovation Fund 📜 Private companies will now have to upload health data to My Health Record thanks to the Health Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 🧪 Aussie women will soon have access to at-home chlamydia & gonorrhoea tests 🤖 Baymatob won ‘AI Innovator - Healthcare’ at the Aus AI Awards for its maternal health tech providing early warnings for complications 🧬 The Fed Gov launched Genomics Australia, a national body to lead & coordinate genomic research, with a $30M commitment over 4 years 💼 Aus's $15B National Reconstruction Fund begins investing in deep tech, allocating $300M to boost quantum, robotics, & clean energy innovation ~~~🌎 US & Beyond the Borders 🌎~~~ 💍 ŌURA raised $75M, reaching a US$5B+ valuation, partnering with Dexcom to integrate glucose monitoring data into its platform 🧠 Headspace laid off 13% of its staff & is transitioning all therapists from employed roles 📈 WHOOP adds psychedelics tracking to its Journal feature, letting users log ketamine, LSD, & psilocybin use ⚽ David Beckham codeveloped longevity supplement brand IM8 Health with biotech company Prenetics, launching a longevity drink 💻 Eli Lilly & Company, the global pharma, invests S$42M in Singapore to launch a Digital Health Innovation Hub 🛠️ Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers trained a surgical robot using imitation learning from surgery videos Keen for the links & delicious deets?? 🍩🙌 Take a gander at last week's newsletter in the comments below👇😊 --- PS - if you liked this and are keen to join >8700 legends getting health tech and innovation news dropped direct to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter, What the Health, linked in the comments below! 💜 📩 #healthtech  #health  #healthcare  #digitalhealth  #medtech  #biotech

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💸 New Funds looking to give you cash This week, over $2 billion in venture capital funding has been announced across 32 new and ongoing funds targeting early-stage innovation in AI, healthcare, climate tech, and deep tech. The funds span globally, with highlights in Western Australia, Israel, Japan, and the Baltics, focusing on seed to growth-stage startups and niche strategies like secondary investments. ⭐️ Key Highlights: ➡️ Global Reach: Investments target startups across the US, Europe, the GCC, and emerging regions. ➡️ Tech-Driven: Heavy focus on AI, sustainability, cybersecurity, and biotech. ➡️ Growth Focus: Early-stage investments dominate, with notable support for regional innovation hubs. This week shows strong global momentum in funding technologies solving real-world problems, while driving local growth and global impact. For all the details signup to the Fusion42 community. The startup community the founders, framers and funders who what get **it done. for the ❤️ of startups __________________________________ Connect or Follow DeReK WaTSoN ___________________________________ #fusion42 #startups #founders #cofounders #venturecapital #angelinvestors

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🇦🇺 The State of the Australian VC Market Heading into 2025 📈 🗓 Date: 28th November | ⏰ Time: 12pm-1pm AEDT 🎟 Tickets on sale now! After a challenging few years in the startup funding landscape—with reduced funding rounds and extended runways—we’re beginning to see promising signs of market recovery. Recent boosts in US investment and steady local deals under $50M could signal positive changes on the horizon. Join us along with our expert panel from Aussie Angels, Tractor Ventures, Rampersand, and Five Capital as we share insights into market trends and what investors are watching closely for in the year ahead. We’ll end with a live Q&A, so bring your questions and get the inside track on what to expect in 2025! Don’t miss out—tickets on sale now! #VCMarket #Investment #AusStartups https://hubs.li/Q02XsdTb0

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✨ Breaking: Melt Ventures Announces New Fund.- Melt Ventures Melt Ventures, a partner of the WAVC initiative, focuses on early-stage investments in sectors aligned with Western Australia’s innovation priorities. https://melt.ventures/ Please share to let other #Founders know For the ❤️ of Startups #Fusion42 #Startups #Venturecapital

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Launching a company with a new organisational structure to empower patients isn't easy. First, most people don't know what a DAO is. Second, many of the people who have heard the phrase, hear the word 'blockchain' and immediately associate a DAO with the dodgy Crypto adverts they see on their social feeds. And third, when many investors, who normally want to 'own' a company, find out that patients own it, they make their excuses and leave (showing it's not really patients they care about, right?). If you want to overturn centuries of a corporate system that rewards the already rich at the expense of the sick, you need to explain yourself. So, I lifted this slide from our 'Investor Deck' to explain what Plantz aims to achieve. The terminology may be new but then again, so are financial terms like derivatives, hybrid/compound instruments and detachable warrants. We're not alone in our Quest. I can see it happening across different industries, building new Web 3.0 technology in ways no-one could have predicted. Entire eco-systems appearing & integrating to empower community and mitigate against the disaster capitalism that has given us the joys of unadulterated sewage, immense inequality and a cost-of-living crisis. https://plantz.io

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What’s happening in Aussie healthtech? 💊🎉 🧬 Presagen’s Life Whisperer IVF embryo AI tech was acquired by Japan's Astec, to expand its use globally 🧫Cartherics Pty Ltd raised $15m to support a clinical trial for CTH-401, a cell therapy targeting ovarian cancer 🧠 Tessara Therapeutics, Psylo, & USyd snagged a $3m CRC-P grant 🤰 Kali Healthcare bagged a $2.65m CRC-P grant to advance its AI-enabled wearable for pregnancy monitoring 💉 Vaxxas, is raising $100m for clinical trials for its needle-free vaccine patch 🩺 ANDHealth+ invested $3.25m of MRFF grants into 5 startups as part of its digital & connected health accelerator program: Eugene, Atmo Biosciences, Immunosis, Metabolic Health Solutions, Humanetix 💊 Wesfarmers Health expects $6bn in revenue this year as it expands digital & pharmacy operations 📱 Medibank partnered with League to enhance customer experience with AI-driven personalisation across its services for 4.2M customers 🖥️ Bupa is offering eligible members 3 free telehealth consults/ year 🚀 Cortical Dynamics Limited, Microbio, & Resonait join the Biomedical AI Sprints Accelerator by ARM Hub & MTPConnect 🧠 Griffith University launched a clinical trial using olfactory nerve bridges from patients' cells to treat chronic spinal cord injuries 💼 SA’s Upper House voted 10-9 against a proposed law restricting abortions after 28 weeks 💡 > 400k Aussies downgraded from "gold" health insurance due to cost-of-living pressures Keen for the links & delicious deets?? 🍩🙌 Take a gander at last week's newsletter in the comments below👇😊 --- PS - if you liked this and are keen to join >8550 legends getting health tech and innovation news dropped direct to your inbox, subscribe to What the Health, linked in the comments below! 💜 📩

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We have two strongly-held values at Something New ✨ — reinforced at the start of each dinner. 1) confidentiality: this is all totally "off the record" .. we run these events under chatham house rules / cone of silence, safe space for folks who aren't yet "open" about their plans to leave and start something new (i.e. with current employer, colleagues) 🤫 👀 2) spirit of service: don't come in asking "what's in it for me" ... join us and ask "what can I do for someone else here." The chances the exact person you need (co-founder, early believer, etc) is in the room at that moment is ultimately fairly low... but the chances someone in that room knows someone outside it they can introduce you to are much higher. Rising tides lift all boats 💪 ✨

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Federal budget 2024 💰 At Sprint Ventures our investment thematics are based on our mission to build a better future with a global macroeconomic focus, so annual budgets are fundamental in understanding growth industries bolstered with government funding. Sprint invests in HealthTech, Aged Care, Infrastructure and ClimateTech as well as AI and productivity. While the budget this year wasn’t revolutionary there are a few relevant initiatives: ▪️The Care economy was a key theme with focus on the Aged Care Royal Commission, NDIS and higher pay for workers. Mentions of digitisation is encouraging in strengthening these health industries. ▪️Focus on the Energy Transition particularly in critical minerals, hydrogen and renewables, which requires significant capital investment. It’s great to see the government stepping in with the capital to support the energy transition. As my friend Simon Thomsen correctly reported there’s not much for startups unfortunately. Some small business tax concessions but that’s it. Thanks to PwC for the invitation to your budget lunch, Richard Yetsenga for a great keynote and Oriel Morrison for her excellent interview of Richard. #federalbudget2024 #venturecapital #macroeconomicinvesting #buildabetterfuture

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📢 Want a crash course in angel investing and venture capital? If you're interested in learning more about angel investing and the world of venture capital, we're hosting an intro series on this topic across multiple sessions, kicking off today! Sign up details below 👇

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An excellent article on the increasingly complex role of directors and three key takeaways for directors to take into account new year. #boards #directors #governance

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🌟 Australian Startups 2023: A Year of Strategic Shifts and Emerging Opportunities 🚀 In 2023, the Australian startup landscape navigated a cautious investment climate, recording a total of 413 deals with an overall investment value of $3.5 billion. Despite a significant drop in deal value from previous years, there was a notable shift towards robust activity in the early stages of investment. Angel and Pre-Seed rounds not only resisted the broader downturn but actually increased, highlighting a vibrant seed funding environment that underpins a dynamic market for emerging technologies. This heightened competition at the entry-level indicates a strategic pivot within our ecosystem, investing in the foundational potential of new ventures. Such insights are crucial as we steer towards nurturing a resilient and innovative startup community ready to tackle future challenges. Dive deeper into the full analysis and explore how these shifts are shaping the future of Australian innovation. https://lnkd.in/gc4gNtGc #AustralianStartups #VentureCapital #StartupEcosystem #Innovation

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NOTWICS in continuing our work with Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) to promote the UK’s strengths as a nation to move to and scale, were on a great call with 22 excellent Australian Medtech and HealthTech founders yesterday arranged by the awesome Alon Gold. All of these businesses are considering scaling their business in the new “rule Britannia”.. where we appear to moving back in turbo tech mode post Wednesdays non ghoulish Halloween government roadshow. In our calls and events with Austrade on scaling into the UK .. Australian and international founders often ask us about the funding landscape and post Brexit more and more are showing interest in moving to Blighty and potentially converting into UK Topco’s — which is great. On that note .. we often discuss the various EIS / SEIS and VCT funding opportunities for Australian founders at NOTWICS and we wanted to flag this excellent piece today from Fred Ursell @ Pembroke VCT in Maddyness UK which explains .. “warts and all” the financial opportunities and shape of things with VCTs for UK top co businesses. Great Job Fred and Great Britain 🇬🇧 Alon Gold Annika Barton Cordelia Royds David Johnson Cordelia Meacher Tim Davis Neil Shah Elizabeth Lazell Yasmina Jebai Isabella Black Richard Jenkins Philip Shelley Anthony Lyall Christopher Hill Startup Catalyst #scaleups #startup #vc

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What’s happening in healthtech? 💊🎉 🧬 exteRNA, a Melb biotech raised $11M to develop new treatments to selectively target and modulate RNA processing pathways to treat difficult cancers 🌟 Valion Health was acquired by We Lysn to enhance virtual mental health across Aus 💸 UQ’s UniQuest & Molecule to Medicine partnered to launch biotech startup Lucia Bio with $1M to develop advanced anti-inflammatory treatments 🏆  NanoCube Health secured a $3M grant to advance its AI-driven nanotech to detect, monitor and target pancreatic cancer 🏆 Updoc has hit 200% compounded annual growth with their offer of faster doctor access with a Netflix-style subscription model nabbing some awards 🏥 The ACCC approved the $8.8B merger of Chemist Warehouse & Sigma Healthcare, with conditions to attempt to protect competition & customer choice 💊 Chemist Warehouse’s retail media revenue declined by $150M >2 years as it grapples with a tougher ad market and rising competition from Woolies & Coles 📉 Aus life expectancy has lowered for the 2nd consecutive year, with a drop of 0.2 years for women & 0.1 years for men 📱 Aus is officially going to ban under-16s from social media - stirring a global debate  :us: The US has a new president-elect - but what will that mean for health? TBC, but Trump did “promise to shake up public health institutions, reshape federal health programs, and slash high costs across the system.” 💔 Forward Health, known for its AI-driven “doctor-in-a-box” CarePods, is shutting down and laying off its entire 200-person staff 🩻 Elon challenged everyone to submit medical images to Grok for analysis… another entrant in the radiology AI wars Keen for the links & delicious deets?? 🍩🙌 Take a gander at last week's newsletter in the comments below👇😊 --- PS - if you liked this and are keen to join >8700 legends getting health tech and innovation news dropped directly to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter, What the Health, linked in the comments below! 💜 📩 #healthtech  #health  #healthcare  #digitalhealth  #medtech  #biotech

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Navigating Seed Funding: The Essential Go-to-Market Strategy Unlock the secrets to successful seed funding as we dissect the importance of a solid business model and targeted go-to-market strategy. Discover how to effectively reach your audience in Australia and build a profitable venture without the fluff. #SeedFunding #GoToMarketStrategy #BusinessModel #StartupSuccess #Entrepreneurship #AustralianMarket #FundingTips #Profitability #MarketData #VentureCapital

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I’m always inspired seeing Australian consumer tech founders doing great things. Lucy Mort is no exception – as the co-founder and CEO of Sunroom, a consumer app that provides a space for women to earn money by creating content and connecting with their communities, Lucy has used product and design to create a space that feels unique, and caters to their specific community. Building a product that can sometimes confuse people (wait - I can only talk on Wednesday?!), I loved these product design insights from Lucy’s interview with Natasha Gillezeau: 📈 Most Advanced, Yet Acceptable: Pioneered by Raymond Loewy, product design should be innovative, whilst accessible and familiar. In essence, as advanced as your target customer is willing to accept. The iPhone is a great example of this, providing incremental changes over time, whilst maintaining enough of the previous design so that it is familiar. ⬇ Less is More: Build on the assumption that your users have no idea what your product is. The more features, the more complexity, the greater the barrier to adoption. Strip things back, listen to your users and your metrics, find your 1-2 key features driving value and stickiness and double down. 👌 Selective perfectionism: Work smarter. Some features will require significant A/B testing and iterating and others won’t. Have a framework to understand the demand, value and ROI you are creating to guide what will move the dial and where to invest your time. Via Missing Perspectives

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10% chance of rain. 100% chance of petrichor and genuine connection for today's #Brooklyn WELLNESS #TechWalk led by Clara Fletcher (CareerStar). FYI - petrichor is the actual smell of rain. "The term was coined in 1964 by Australian scientists Isabel Joy Bear and Richard Grenfell Thomas, who published their research in the journal Nature. They discovered that a yellow oil trapped in rocks and soil was responsible for the smell of rain. The oil is a combination of oils from plants and chemicals from soil bacteria." So grab some waterproof boots and an umbrella to join today's special WELLNESS #TechWalk featuring an impressive lineup of Co-Hosts which includes: 🌳 Ricardo Soares - Co-Founder and Soulworker SOULSARA - an organization the provides workplace wellness solutions 🌳 Michael Zaytsev - Academic Director: Business of Cannabis, LIM College, Best-selling Author, "The Cannabis Business Book", Founder, High NY 🌳 Collin Palmer - CEO of VesselLifeScience a company at the intersection of tech, design, art , wellness, regenerative agriculture, with a 20-year award-winning history of developing some of the most recognized products in the #cannabis market. Ricardo Soares and SOULSARA will be gifting three attendees of our 9/26 walk two (1) hour wellness coaching sessions. Over 30 days, coaching recipients will explore topics like: #stressmanagement, sustainable performance levels, creativity,#purposefulliving, and personalized wellness subjects. Each session will include training exercises to practice until the next meeting. Follow-up check-ins via phone or text to support the recipient's progress. Take a deep inhale and see you there! Useful links in the comments.

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Kia ora, Want to know how the New Zealand tech ecosystem compares globally? Well, the latest Startup Genome and StartupBlink reports are out! Startup Genome: https://lnkd.in/gjxjt3eM Starup Blink: https://lnkd.in/gqy8yWQ3 Both reports do a fantastic job of analysing of the current state of startup ecosystems globally. Reviewing the Startup Genome report, as in previous years, New Zealand is presented as one big tech ecosystem, and is compared to city tech ecosystems around the world. The StartupBlink report looks at New Zealand's cities as being individual tech ecosystems. So how did we do in the Startup Genome report? Well predictably, New Zealand ranked 3rd in Oceania behind Melbourne and Sydney. However in the Top 100 Emerging Ecosystems runners up list, it dropped from 20th in 2023 to 23rd in 2024 (equal to 63rd in the world). The Australians have improved slightly. Sydney is ranked 20th best startup system in the world (up from 21st in 2023) and Melbourne is ranked 32nd best. (up from 33rd in 2023). Resiliently, Israel's Silicon Wadi (Tel Aviv) has improved and is now ranged 4th in the world (up from 5th in 2023). Amazing given the current situation. How did New Zealand go in the StartupBlink report? Well, it appears that there may be some centralisation happening across the country. While Auckland has gone up by 6 spots (since 2023), to be ranked 116 in the world, all the others have dropped, including Wellington (down by 5, now ranked 254) and Christchurch (down by 50, now ranked 284). As a country, New Zealand is ranked 30th in the world (up by one). There's mixed results for the Aussies. Sydney is now ranked 36th in the world (up by two since 2023) and Melbourne is ranked 44th (down by 1). Australia as a country is ranked 11th in the world (down by 2). I encourage you to download both reports. Josh

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Complete list of all active pre-seed & seed lead investors in NZ below. Thank you to all those who helped fill in the gaps. Quite a few people have reached out and said it was helpful, which is great. Next, I am thinking of creating the list of pre-seed & seed investors in NZ who follow and fill in investment rounds. As the list will be quite long, help would be appreciated. Please add in the comments. Aera VC AgriZeroNZ Blackbird Brandon Capital Bridgewest Ventures NZ Cure Kids Ventures Ecliptic Even Capital GD1 (Global From Day One) Hillfarrance Venture Capital Icehouse Ventures Maker Partners Motion Capital Movac Nuance Connected Capital NZ Growth Capital Partners NZVC Outset Ventures Pacific Channel Phase One Ventures Punakaiki Fund Quidnet Ventures Soul Capital Sprout Agritech WNT Ventures

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As an angel investor, I’ve made over 50 early-stage investments across the UK, US, and beyond. Now, as a Partner at Antler in Australia, I’ve experienced firsthand the shifts between angel and VC investing - and these findings have transformed my approach to supporting founders. I share 5 surprising lessons I learned that about angel vs. VC funding that I wish every founder knew in the article below. From the unexpected empathy VCs have (yes, we pitch too!) to why VCs reserve capital for follow-on funding and how market size can make or break a venture-backed business. Thinking about joining our February '25 residency and/or raising your first round? This is an inside look at the mindsets and strategies VCs use when investing, offering takeaways to help you get funded. 👉 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/g_jStAWS

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