Editor's Note
Environment is everything
I've been working from Bali for the last month - training, working, resting where I can. No major changes to my usual routine.
In my first week, Whoop registered an average recovery of 73% - up from 43%. Same routine, same training, same work pattern. The only thing that had changed was my environment.
The thing that had the biggest impact on my recovery in months wasn't a new supplement, sleep protocol or meditation practice. It was seeing the sun every day, being around likeminded people and getting outside into nature.
The wearable industry is brilliant at tracking our inputs. Sleep, exercise, supplements, nutrition. But we seem to be missing a huge piece of context: who we spend time with, our location, the weather - data that is readily available.
In a world where we are always encouraged to add more, having a better understanding of how our environment impacts us would be a huge leap towards an overall health platform.
Nobody is building for this.
Industry News
Proximie Partners with NVIDIA to Build the Intelligent Operating Room
Proximie, the UK surgical AI platform, has announced a collaboration with NVIDIA under Project Rheo to build AI-powered intelligent operating rooms. The partnership combines Proximie's surgical data captured across hundreds of live ORs worldwide with NVIDIA's foundation models to develop systems that can recognise surgical milestones in real time and support robotic assistants in the procedure. (cityam.com)
Why it matters: The OR is one of the most data-rich environments in medicine and almost none of it has been used at scale until now. Proximie is exchanging its surgical data for NVIDIA's AI infrastructure - a practical model for any founder sitting on proprietary clinical data. Whether the AI actually improves outcomes is still to be proven.
Hero Acquires The Gut Stuff
Swiss food group Hero - owner of Deliciously Ella and Organix - has acquired The Gut Stuff, the London gut health snacking brand founded by twins Lisa and Alana MacFarlane, for an undisclosed sum. The founders remain at the helm and all employees transfer across, with Hero planning international retail expansion from June. (hero-group.ch)
Why it matters: Hero has bought Deliciously Ella and The Gut Stuff in 18 months - both brands built on community and content before product. The Gut Stuff's founders built a podcast, app and events programme before the bars got on Tesco shelves. That's the model the acquirers keep paying for.
Oura Acquires Galen AI to Connect Its Ring to Medical Records
Oura has acquired Galen AI, a Stanford-founded Y Combinator startup that connects consumer health apps to medical records across more than 800 healthcare systems in the US, UK and Canada. The acquisition lets Oura's in-app assistant reference your actual medical records and lab results alongside your ring data - so instead of telling you your HRV is low, it can start joining that up with what your GP already knows. (femtechinsider.com)
Why it matters: Oura has made four acquisitions in quick succession - Veri, Sparta Science, Doublepoint and now Galen. Each one adds a new layer: metabolic health, gesture control and now clinical records. If you're building a product that connects to Oura, the platform looks quite different from what it was 12 months ago.
Calibre Launches from Stealth with $3.3m to End Health Guesswork
London-based Calibre has launched from stealth with a $3.3m pre-seed led by Amino Collective, with angels including the founders of Gousto and N26. The platform combines clinician-led care, diagnostics and causal AI to build personalised health plans from £69 a month. (getcalibre.com)
Why it matters: Most health tracking shows you what's happening. Calibre is trying to explain why and what to do about it before you get ill - which is a different product entirely. At £69 a month, it's significantly cheaper than going private and a more realistic price point for proactive health to actually reach people.
Unbound Partners with Technogym to Reimagine Preventative Health
Unbound, the London preventative health studio that opened in Shoreditch in February, has partnered with Technogym to integrate clinical-grade fitness and assessment technology into its model. The studio combines blood biomarkers, cardiovascular fitness, musculoskeletal performance and mental health assessment alongside a community programme of events and membership. (technogym.com)
Why it matters: Most preventative health clinics feel like clinics. Unbound opened with a coffee shop, an events programme and a biomarker testing suite in the same space. The Technogym partnership adds clinical-grade equipment to that model - and if the formula works, it makes a reasonable case that getting people to show up consistently is an environment problem as much as a product one.
Eight Sleep Launches Autopilot 4.0
Eight Sleep has launched Autopilot 4.0, a predictive sleep agent that uses daily data - workouts, meals, stress, alcohol - to anticipate how you will sleep and automatically adjust the Pod before bed. Members receive a plain-language brief each morning explaining what happened, what drove it and how the system responded. (fitt.co)
Why it matters: Eight Sleep has moved from telling you what happened last night to adjusting your bed before you get into it. The sleep agent connects your day's data to your sleep environment, rather than treating them separately. It's a small shift in logic and a bigger one in what the product actually does.
Investment Updates
Wavelet Medical, $7m seed (finsmes.com) - Yale-founded AI fetal brain monitoring startup raised $7m through a partnership with Aegis Ventures to scale its non-invasive fetal EEG platform, currently piloting at Yale, LA General and Yonsei University Health System.
Nomio, $4m (insider.fitt.co) - Swedish broccoli performance shot raised $4m backed by Collaborative Fund to scale distribution - it broke out at the 2026 Winter Olympics, where elite Nordic skiers were drinking it before races.
Flora Fertility, $5m seed (finsmes.com) - Canada-founded fertility insurtech raised $5m led by ManchesterStory to scale the first individually-owned portable fertility insurance platform across the US, with Canada to follow.
Almanac Health, $10m seed (finsmes.com) - Boston-based clinical AI platform founded by Stanford physician-researcher Cyril Zakka raised $10m led by F-Prime, with General Catalyst and Lightspeed, to bring research-validated decision support to clinicians at the point of care.
Podcast
Episode 4 - Shaun Traynor, Founder of KIP
Most of us track our sleep. Few of us look at what's actually killing it.
Shaun Traynor built KIP after realising he didn't have a sleep problem - he had a phone problem. In this episode, he and Jamie get into why the wind-down matters more than the night itself, and what it takes to build a product that asks people to do the hardest thing in health tech: put their phone down.
Roles Worth Knowing About
Senior Modelling Engineer - Runna London, Hybrid (3 days, Vauxhall)
Runna was acquired by Strava in 2025 and is building toward becoming the go-to training platform for millions of runners worldwide. This role works on the algorithms and models behind personalised training plans for hundreds of thousands of runners, sitting at the heart of what the product actually does. Apply here
Head of Product - Paloma Health London, Hybrid (3 days, Borough High Street)
Paloma is tackling the 4-10 year NHS wait for children's autism and ADHD assessments, and has grown to 120 people since launch. This isn't a standard software product role - you own the end-to-end service model, from clinical pathways to the technology that supports them.
Apply here
Head of Engineering, Obesity - Numan Remote, UK
Numan's platform integrates diagnostics, medication, supplements and doctor consultations for hundreds of thousands of patients in the UK. This role leads the engineering team behind Numan's fastest-growing clinical area: GLP-1 prescribing, treatment monitoring and patient engagement.
Apply here
Lead/Staff Backend Engineer - Spill London, In-person (Shoreditch)
Spill is the UK's number one employee assistance programme on Trustpilot, delivering text-based therapy to 600+ companies including Monzo and Rightmove. With only two engineers currently on the team, this role carries genuine scope and influence from day one.
Apply here
Staff Product Manager (Generalist) - ZOE Remote
ZOE runs the world's largest nutrition studies through its PREDICT programme and turns that science into a consumer product used by hundreds of thousands of people. This role sets strategy for a major business pillar, working directly with the senior leadership team.
Apply here
That's it for Issue #8.
If you found this useful, forward it to one founder or investor in your network who'd get value from it. Reply with anything you'd like to see more of. I read every response
