Swetabh Pathak

Excited to announce Frist Cressey Ventures' investment in Qualified Health and privileged to partner w/ SignalFire, Healthier Capital, Town Hall Ventures and others!   Healthcare costs are increasing at a faster rate than ever before, with the US spending nearly twice as other wealthy countries and still ranking bottom in outcomes. It's a story you've all heard - - US healthcare is known for astronomical inefficiencies, waste, workforce supply constraints, fragmented access, appalling patient experiences, and driving patients and businesses into debt.   Yes these problems present opportunities. But opportunities are limited to the system's appetite for change, desire and incentive to try something new and the innovation available. At FCV we believe we've hit the trifecta with Generative AI. Generative AI has given us truly transformational tools in the toolkit and the healthcare ecosystem is demanding to absorb its benefits. This perfect collision of supply and demand means healthcare is poised for big change.   Generative AI is everywhere, it's buzzy, it dangles hope and opportunity. But many things need to be true for the Gen AI transformation in healthcare to take hold, such as but not limited to:   💡 Patient lives and data need to remain safe: We believe in a highly regulated and human life-touching sector such as healthcare we must ensure Gen AI can drive to unrivalled savings and improvements in the quality of care WHILE not putting patient lives or data at risk.   💡 Systems need to own their utilization of Gen AI: We believe systems will use some hybrid of external partners and homegrown solutions but importantly will want full control of data provisioning and utilization as well as the ability to solve an unlimited number of nuanced issues and not cookie cutter algorithms.   💡 Costs need to be looked at on an enterprise level: We believe the speed of innovation in Gen AI means costs will continue decreasing dramatically but at an enterprise level this will still not be a small detail. Systems will want the ability to understand costs and delegate as needed for the outcomes desired at the organizational level.   Enter Qualified.   We knew when we met Justin Norden, MD, MBA, MPhil and team we were standing in front of changemakers. These individuals have lived and breathed the true application and implementation of Generative AI far before we were asking ChatGPT to write our emails. In fact, if you’ve ever driven in a Waymo you’ve benefited from past products this team has built.   Qualified Health is on a mission to enforce governance in Gen AI, allow systems to rapidly build for their needs, monitor and make decisions for all GenAI (homegrown and external) and accelerate the value the sector can glean from these new technologies.   Huge shout out to William T., Tommaso Auerbach and Jamie Kuntz for their hard work!

240

14 Comments

Incredibly excited to share our updated Healthcare AI thesis. This is not a market map – in 4,000 words, we dive deeply into the research, products, business models, and market entry points that are reimagining healthcare with AI. More specifically, we cover: • Translating AI research into real-world products • Mapping modalities (software, copilots, agents, services, diagnostics, therapeutics) to problems in healthcare • Designing AI business models that unlock billion-dollar markets • Closing current gaps in healthcare AI infrastructure • Distinguishing AI platforms from point solutions Let us know what you think ⤵️

524

67 Comments

Open-source models can be a strong lever for increasing gross margins at AI companies, especially those that have hefty cost structures (e.g., enterprise sales orgs that require significant customer success or implementation resources, as well forward-deployed AI services models common in healthcare and life sciences). One of many reasons to maintain a modular and flexible stack with minimal dependencies when building an AI company. More on the importance of flexibility in the AI stack: https://lnkd.in/eA2XATRk h/t Delip Rao #ai #artificialintelligence #generativeai #healthcare

50

6 Comments

Awesome report from Rock Health (in the comments) about H124 digital health funding. 📈 Despite broader economic challenges, the digital health sector, including mental health, has shown resilience, raising $5.7B across 266 deals. There is a strong Series A pipeline, tapering off of unlabeled funding rounds and 3 public exits in Q2 2024 indicating a revival in the exit market and a return to more sustainable funding patterns​. Key insights about the mental health market: 🧠 Mental health continues to be the leading clinical indication in digital health funding, securing $682 million in H1 2024. This consistent top ranking highlights the ongoing investor interest and the market's recognition of the critical need for mental health solutions. 🤖 The focus on mental health is driven by a combination of increased awareness, the rising demand for accessible mental health services, and the integration of tech solutions...🙄 In fact, AI has become a significant factor in digital health investments, with 34% of the total sector funding going to AI-startups. This trend is also reflected in mental health, where AI is being utilised to enhance diagnosis, personalise treatment plans, and provide scalable, efficient care solutions. Let's go!

22

1 Comment

The (Healthcare) Ground Beneath Our Feet… This year it is likely that over $10 billion will be invested in the digital health sector – a robust amount, no doubt, but inconsequential when compared to the amount of capital tied up in healthcare real estate assets, which is estimated to be $1.2 trillion by Jones Lang Lasalle. Of that amount, approximately $790 billion is in the hospital sector while the remaining $490 billion is in medical office assets. It is estimated that there are 48.6k facilities with 3.4 billion square feet of healthcare real estate, 42% of which are owned by REITs and another 33% held by other private investment vehicles. Much of the digital health investment is meant to make the physical healthcare infrastructure more productive: greater operating efficiencies, greater patient throughput, more relevant personalized care models with better outcomes. As the healthcare system is being pushed to be more distributed to lower cost sites of care, accelerated now by the rapid proliferation of automation and AI capabilities, the potential impact on healthcare infrastructure assets will be profound. Thoughts on what that might look like... https://lnkd.in/eTfAdUbS #digitalhealth Flare Capital Partners

113

6 Comments

In our latest publication in Health, Management, Policy, and Innovation – "Why AI Is Good for Our Health but May Hurt Our Wallets," we examine how current regulatory frameworks, reimbursement structures, and business models for AI in healthcare are decoupled, creating an environment in which AI may significantly increase costs without necessarily improving outcomes. We recommend three interconnected reforms to unlock the full potential of healthcare AI: (1) Rigorous pre- and post-deployment evaluation to verify proposed clinical value, (2) Development of assessment standards through shared guidelines, and (3) Strategic alignment of AI deployment modalities with sustainable business models – "modality-business model-market" fit 👉 https://lnkd.in/d8NiczyM Sneha Shah Jain, MD, MBA, Clinical Professor and Kevin Schulman Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, Nigam Shah, Chief Data Scientist, Michael Pfeffer, Chief Information and Digital Officer, and Linda Hoff Chief Financial Officer at Stanford Health Care

110

9 Comments

Hot off the pre-print server – an important publication authored by the Atropos Health team exploring the performance of LLMs in answering real-world clinical questions. LLMs excel at summarizing and contextualizing existing literature, but cannot generate de novo medical evidence today. The results of the study highlight performance gains attributable to injecting novel, relevant, and up-to-date medical evidence into LLM-powered clinical decision support systems. Brigham Hyde Nigam Shah Saurabh Gombar Read the study here: https://lnkd.in/ecuU25Pq

49

2 Comments

Looking beyond #VC funding for your #startup? Aakash Shah of Wyndly (YC W21) reveals how he built a multi-million dollar #healthtech company using creative capital strategies. Learn how he leveraged Y Combinator's network and alternative funding methods to revolutionize allergy treatment. In case you missed it, you can watch the #FundraisingDemystified #podcast here: https://lnkd.in/eZT63YS4

5

2 Comments

Excited to share what Nithin Parsan and I have been working on at YC! At Reticular (YC F24), we're pioneering the future of explainable AI for biology. Check out the post and our first technical blogpost linked in the comments to learn more about what we're focused on.

92

7 Comments

I’ve had the chance to go deep with a number of digital health alum, healthcare mentors and #corporate innovation partners over the past few days. A few themes to share:   1. Digital will change healthcare. Period. How is hard. But it will happen and the best are continuing to push ahead. 2. What keeps companies in the S&P 500 for 50 years or more? Partnerships and innovation. This is why large systems must practice the hard art of both partnership and partnership towards innovation. For startups, partnership reps may be more important than brand. 3. There is a difference between needs and behaviors that startups need to understand, especially in Healthcare where incentives, process, practices are complex. Finding who pays early is not only essential but existential. 4. Don’t optimize for valuation, optimize for value. Over the long-run, this is what will matter. In Healthcare, today value will have to tie to ROI. Pharma, providers, payors are under pressure. Your solution needs to be must-have and drive ROI.   MC Healthcare was launched over 5 years ago to accelerate industry/startup intelligence and collaboration and commercial partnerships for digital health startups and industry (payors, providers, pharma). Calling startups to apply. Want to be a partner to find and work with the best? DM me directly.

33

1 Comment

Excited for this one. Congrats to Alex Cohen and Hello Patient on their seed round announcement. Hello Patient stands to change the communication paradigm between patients and providers forever. Their generative AI call agent technology is tackling the tremendous admin burden of patient facing comms (scheduling, follow ups, referrals, prescription refills, etc). Massive opportunity and we think Alex and his team are expertly positioned to become market leaders. Max Ventures is thrilled to co-lead the seed round with 8VC and Bling Capital A great quote below from Alex highlighting the concept of "service as a software". Healthcare is a heavily service oriented industry - so the opportunity for step change is even more profound. The startup's approach is part of a paradigm shift where AI companies are offering service as software. "I'm a big believer that the right way to do this is through a managed services business. We're not building SaaS. I believe we can do this services as software where what was traditionally a services business now has software margins because I don't have to go employ a whole bunch of people to do the services under the hood," Cohen noted. https://lnkd.in/ehNN2AmW

26

2 Comments

The 15 largest biotech fundraisings picked up ~$2.8B in Q1. Here's a look at some trends behind the numbers: 1. Biotech fundraising and sentiment is improving: HSBC noted that VC-backed biopharma companies raised $6.8B in the first quarter, the most since early 2022. 2. IPO markets are improving, but some companies are opting to stay private for longer, as witnessed by several later-stage rounds. One of the most notable was FogPharma's $145M Series E, which comes as it progresses its promising β-catenin inhibitor for colorectal cancer through Phase 1/2 trials. Recovering public market sentiment also enabled several solid IPOs: Kyverna Therapeutics, Viking Therapeutics, Inc. and CG Oncology all raised in excess of $300M each. 3. Several successful teams returned for a new gig: The core team behind Prometheus (acquired by Merck last year for $10.8B) was behind San Diego based Mirador's massive $400M launch round. And the co-founders of Karuna (acquired by BMS last year for $14B) launched Seaport Therapeutics with a $100M Series A. These fundraises demonstrate biotech sentiment is improving, which sets up the remainder of 2024 to be one of solid progress for the industry at large.

235

6 Comments

Wow, great stuff on this first episode. I got the run down from Ataes Aggarwal and Arya Satish, and I see that critically important business and life topics will be covered in this podcast series. Follow, tune in, and spread the word. PSA: Some super thoughtful and practical content to be had here with this podcast. 🙌

13

1 Comment

One more intresting presentation of Paul Tremblot de la Croix "How Generative AI Can Help Startups Succeed" at the #VDS2024. And my note on how AI can drive success: 💬 speakers emphasized that data is the foundation. Generative AI applications are only as good as the data they're built on. The ability to combine real-time data with generative capabilities is a game-changer for startups. 🕵‍♂️ shared the importance of customization. Don’t adopt generative AI just because it's trendy. Tailor it to your business needs, ensuring it’s the right tool for your use case. 👮‍♀‍ discussed data privacy and security concerns, emphasizing GDPR and other regulations. Startups must handle customer data carefully and integrate strong security protocols when deploying generative AI tools. Key points: 1. Generative AI + RAG = Personalization. By using AI with RAG, startups can retrieve relevant real-time information or past interactions, ensuring personalization not just based on predictions but also on actual preferences, history or external knowledge sources. 2. Customization & Use Case Fit. It's crucial to pick the most efficient AI model, considering cost, latency and accuracy. Generative AI isn't one-size-fits-all! 3. From MVP to Production. Building an AI-powered product is just the first step. Measuring, tracking and fine-tuning AI in production is essential for maintaining customer trust👌 I appreciate your meaningful insights shared about scaling AI strategically. Also on keep security tight and focus on solving real customer problems and think about there needs 😇 #AI #Startups #VDS2024 #DataPrivacy #Cybersecurity

4

💡 When we started Caresyntax over a decade ago, AI wasn’t the hot topic it is today. But even back then, we believed in its transformative potential. AI can be just a buzzword, or a powerful tool to drive measurable change in patient care. Fast forward to now, AI-focused healthcare companies now command 2-5x higher valuations than their non-AI counterparts, with some reaching EV/ARR multiples of 30-50x. These numbers show that beyond the hype, there are signals of the industry’s interest in embracing AI-driven solutions that deliver results. These innovations matter because healthcare’s $1 trillion administrative burden and growing labor shortages demand smarter, scalable solutions. Early benchmarks show that these AI-driven models are scaling 2-3x faster than traditional SaaS, with sales cycles shrinking to less than 6 months, compared to the typical 12-18 months in healthcare. But let’s not forget: AI is only as valuable as the outcomes it delivers. Whether it’s automating medical scribing, enabling back-office efficiency, or delivering real-time surgical insights, the goal remains the same: empowering healthcare teams and enhancing patient care. After all, it’s not about having AI in your name; it’s about the results you deliver. 🌐 The digital age is here - let’s make it count! #AIinHealthcare #HealthcareInnovation #FutureOfHealth #DataDrivenCare

60

1 Comment

It was wonderful to be in conversation with Madison Mills of Yahoo Finance at their annual Invest conference earlier this week. We covered everything from the venture outlook for 2025, impact of elections on women's health investing and innovation, and more. Full clip and summary below 👇 https://lnkd.in/gS67sc2Y

95

6 Comments

Though benchmarks for medical AI are still imperfect, there's no question that AI will continue to march towards diagnostic excellence. These trends will place greater emphasis on physician-scientists – those who advance medical knowledge via closed loop clinic/lab interfaces, which can then feed back into large-scale AI systems that serve entire populations. This was all part of the OG vision for the learning health system. source: https://lnkd.in/eh2RM72s

111

11 Comments