Editor's Note
Don't Google your symptoms
We've all been given this advice and with good reason. Health anxiety is on the rise and Googling the symptoms of even the most benign of illnesses can have us thinking that our days are numbered.
Putting together this week's issue I couldn't help but wonder if we are building the 10x version of this problem. Almost every preventative health platform is building clinical grade tools and giving them to people with no medical background.
All of them are reaching for the same thing: the most complete picture of your health they can build, and a way to spot problems yourself. But most can't actually diagnose you. What they give you is a signal, not an answer.
A recent AXA study found that 36% of people now check symptoms with AI tools before anywhere else, and 63% said it made minor problems feel more serious. GPs are regularly quoted as seeing patients arrive having pre-diagnosed themselves with far more serious illnesses.
So, in an already health anxious society does all of this detection actually improve outcomes? Or does it just pour more worried people into a system that's overwhelmed?
Industry News
Neko Health adds body composition and wearables to its scan
Neko, the Swedish preventative health company has announced a series of significant updates to its platform including body composition and visceral fat measurements as well as a new app that allows wearable integration via Apple Health. (Medical Device Network)
Why it matters. An annual checkup offers limited scope to understand a member's true health trajectory. Giving doctors context via wearable data enables Neko to build a genuine story of health rather than isolated snapshots in time and this is where intervention is most powerful.
Skin Analytics puts a skin cancer check on a standard phone
Skin Analytics has launched a smart phone based version of its AI skin cancer detection technology enabling clinical grade analysis to be done on an ordinary smartphone. Skin Analytics has spent the last 6 years proving the concept and the technology is now ready for mass adoption. (LaingBuisson)
Why it matters. Although for now use is limited to primary care settings, Skin Analytics Founder and CEO Neil Daly believes that this is the moment that puts skin cancer analysis into everyone's pocket. Another huge sign that clinical grade tech is making its way into the mainstream.
The London Marathon is going two-day in 2027
The London Marathon has confirmed that this year's London Marathon will be a double header hosting 2 full marathon events across one weekend. This follows the most sign ups ever for a ballot topping out at over 1.3million in just a few days. (London Marathon Events)
Why it matters. Mass Participation Events are growing faster than ever and show no signs of slowing down. This is a huge moment for all of the sponsors, suppliers and charities that are involved in the London Marathon and maybe a test case for a double header every year.
Midjourney (yes, that Midjourney) enters medical imaging
Midjourney, the company best known for its AI image generation, has launched the Midjourney Scanner. An ultrasonic scanner that works by lowering a person into a pool surrounded by a ring of sensors that builds a 3d bodymap in under 30 seconds. It plans to build its first location in 2027. (Midjourney)
Why it matters. Honestly there is a heavy dose of scepticism here. Midjourney has never released a hardware product and claims that the scanner doesn't use AI, the very thing that the company is famous for being so good at. I wouldn't bank on this one.
WHOOP partners with HealthEx to bring in EHR data
WHOOP has partnered with HealthEx to allow US members to connect their electronic health records into the app. Medical background such as previous diagnoses, prescriptions and lab results from care providers will now be available alongside WHOOP's own data offering a much more complete picture of overall health. (WHOOP)
Why it matters. WHOOP is great for tracking data like sleep and exercise but without the context of historical medical records sometimes feels one dimensional. Offering users the ability to contextualise their insights with their individual medical background gives a much more rounded story of their health and how to improve it in a sustainable way.
Investment Updates
Frontier Health, founded by an ex-Palantir healthcare lead, raised £12m led by Atomico to scale JUNO, an AI agent that takes on the NHS admin work clogging up clinicians' days. (UKTN)
Uncovr, based in New York and Paris with a practising AP-HP surgeon among its founders, raised $7m led by Index Ventures to turn operating-room video into the operative notes and billing codes surgeons spend hours writing. (Fintech News)
Kimba, a New York sleep startup, raised $6.5m led by Selva Ventures for a bedside device that releases precisely timed scents to deepen sleep without waking you. (Femtech Insider)
Clair Health, founded by 21-year-old Jenny Duan and backed by Khosla Ventures, raised $11.6m to build a wearable that reads women's hormone levels without a single blood draw. (Forbes)
Everlab, the Melbourne preventative health platform, raised AU$65m in a Series A led by Airtree Ventures and is using the round to launch in the UK. (Business Wire)
The Health Stack Podcast
Episode #07 - Full Episode
Will Read, Investor and Founder of Healthier
Will exited employee ideas platform Sideways6 in 2023 and now invests in and advises European health companies while building his own, Healthier. We get into raising money in health, what investors look for, and how to think about capital structure around the life you actually want.
Roles Worth Knowing About
Founding Engineer - Healf London, Hybrid Healf went from £1m to over £100m in under three years and topped the FT1000 and Sifted 100 as it shifts from e-commerce to a wellbeing intelligence platform. This role designs that platform's architecture from first principles, partnering with the CTO and building out the engineering team. (Apply here)
Head of NHS Partnerships - Paloma Health London, Hybrid Paloma runs NHS children's autism and ADHD assessments and has pulled waits down from years to around three months. This role owns the commissioner relationships that bring in new contracts, with a path to Commercial Director as it grows. (Apply here)
VP, Pharma Partnerships - Thriva London, Hybrid Thriva runs at-home blood testing and the diagnostics platform behind a lot of other companies' testing. This is a chance to build the pharma partnerships line from scratch and own it end to end. (Apply here)
Senior Software Engineer - Thalamos London, Hybrid Thalamos has built a first of its kind digital pathway for the Mental Health Act, replacing paper forms, long waits and lost documents across the NHS, social services and police. As one of the first engineering hires, you would own real product as it rolls out to more trusts. (Apply here)
Product Manager - Unmind UK remote, monthly London travel Unmind is the workplace mental health platform used by Uber, Disney and the NHS. The role owns Nova, its AI agent, working hands-on with the prompts and evaluation that decide how good its responses actually are. (Apply here)
That's it for Issue #14.
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