All Access

Health Tech Deals

Health Tech Deals Alerts

Alert

Standard

Health Tech Deals Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

mustard

BFD Expert Voices - Health Tech Deals

BFD Expert Voices

Telemental health startup UpLift acquired women-focused psychiatry provider Minded, UpLift CEO Kyle Talcott tells Erin exclusively.

Why it matters: The market downturn has turned many behavioral health startups into assets for well-positioned later-stage companies as a growing mental health crisis keeps demand for their services high.

Details: The deal for Minded, completed as an all-stock transaction, represents UpLift's first acquisition — but not its last, per Talcott.

UpLift is taking on Minded's intellectual property, contracts, and infrastructure, but will not be taking on its employees.

The deal comes just four months after UpLift closed a $10.7 million Series A round.

What's next: Talcott says UpLift has another acquisition "in the works right now."

How it [will] work: New York City-based Minded offered psychiatry focused on women's behavioral health needs. Tampa-based UpLift contracts with commercial plans, Medicaid, and Medicare to offer virtual-first psychotherapy and psychiatry services that are covered by insurance.

"We look forward for their patients, transitioning as many as we can into an insurance-based model," says Talcott.

Flashback: Talcott was introduced to one of Minded's investors through Redesign Health, the startup builder that helped launch UpLift.

State of play: Recent M&A deals in the behavioral health sector include...

Telemental health company SonderMind in March acquired the assets of virtual behavioral health startup Mindstrong.

BehaVR and OxfordVR, two virtual reality behavioral health companies, announced plans last December to merge with support from a $13 million Series B fundraise.

1 big thing: Telemental health biz UpLift buys Minded

Illustration of two brains overlapping to form a Venn diagram

Diagnostics company Cytovale raised $84 million in Series C funding to commercialize its sepsis test, CEO Ajay Shah tells Aaron.

Why it's the BFD: Sepsis is the third-leading cause of death in U.S. hospitals.

Details: The round was led by Norwest Venture Partners with participation by new investors Sands Capital and Global Health Investment Corporation.

The financing included participation from other new and existing investors, as well as the conversion of bridge notes.

TD Cowen was Cytovale's financial adviser.

How it works: The San Francisco-based company's flagship product is an FDA-cleared rapid sepsis diagnosis test called IntelliSep.

IntelliSep assesses the body's immune response to an infection, using machine learning to characterize white blood cells' responses, which differ between septic and non-septic patients.

It generates a diagnostic result in under 10 minutes using standard blood draws.

What's next: Cytovale will use proceeds to bring IntelliSep to more hospital emergency departments and health systems around the country.

"This capital should give us runway for multiple years and puts us in a good position with this sizable round," Shah says.

The company is generating revenue but he declined to get into specifics.

What they're saying: "Sepsis is the number one cost of inpatient care in the U.S. and it kills more than breast cancer and opioids combined," says Shah.

"Until now, health care providers have lacked a fast and reliable test to inform treatment paths," says Norwest general partner Zack Scott.

"Offering the first early-detection test on the market, Cytovale has the incredible potential to dramatically improve how our healthcare system gets the right care to the right patients at the right time," says Scott.

Catch up fast: The company last raised in 2019, closing a $15 million Series B co-led by Breakout Ventures and Blackhorn Ventures.

2. The BFD: Cytovale raises $84M for sepsis diagnosis

Illustration of a stopwatch with a test tube instead of a second hand.

Medicaid navigation startup Fortuna Health raised $4 million in seed funding, CEO Nikita Singareddy tells Erin exclusively.

Why it matters: Getting and keeping Medicaid coverage is a complex endeavor, and procedural hurdles like errors in application forms account for some 71% of disenrollments.

Details: Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) led the round. BoxGroup and Y Combinator participated.

Individual backers including Sachs Policy Group CEO Jeff Sachs, ZocDoc founder Cyrus Massoumi, former Sutter Health Bay Area president Jeff Gerard, PillPack founder Elliot Cohen, Cityblock founder Iyah Romm, Summer Health founder Ellen DaSilva also participated.

EGOT winner and entrepreneur John Legend also joined via a16z's Cultural Leadership Fund.

Funds will go toward accelerating Fortuna's state expansion and partnerships with managed care organizations, health systems, and service providers.

Singareddy declined to say when she expects Fortuna to collect a Series A.

How it works: Fortuna offers a Medicaid eligibility screening platform in more than seven languages that allows applicants to connect third-party accounts, upload photo documents, and receive text and email notifications.

If a user encounters a question while filling out the form, they can chat live with one of Fortuna's licensed navigators.

The company operates in New York, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.

Flashback: A former Medicaid beneficiary, Singareddy came up with the idea for Fortuna after encountering obstacles in the sign-up and renewal process.

In the course of creating the startup, Singareddy realized that even greater barriers exist for people whose first language is not English.

For example, Korean speakers do not use the same suffixes as English speakers and many members of the Chinese American community refer to Medicaid not by its official name but rather as the "white card."

So Singareddy and her team focused on ensuring Fortuna's screening process didn't include any incomprehensible phrases or fields.

What they're saying: While many health plans already distribute information about Medicaid enrollment via direct mail, that "doesn't solve the last mile problem," says Singareddy.

Fortuna aims to "get you through the experience without having to struggle with a four-hour wait or figure out where to mail or fax your application."

State of play: Several Medicare-focused navigation startups have attracted venture attention, but there are few similar companies for the Medicaid population. For example...

Retirement benefits navigation startup Spark Advisors in January collected $15 million in Series A funds.

Senior benefits navigation startup Duos raised $10 million in unlabeled funding in June, following a $15 million Series A last April.

Senior insurance navigator Fair Square Medicare last August garnered $15 million in Series A funding.

3. Fortuna Health gets $4M joined by John Legend

Illustration of a shadow about to sign off on the health symbol. 

Want more health tech deals? Check out the Axios Pro Deals Tracker beta.

• Forward, an SF-based, tech-focused operator of medical clinics, raised $100m in unlabeled funds from Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund. https://axios.link/46kSWTM

• Sunnyside, an SF-based alcohol behavior change startup, raised $11.5m in Series A funding led by Motley Fool Ventures with participation from Will Ventures, Uncork Capital, Offline Ventures, Joyance Partners, and others. https://www.sunnyside.co/

• Morf Health, an SF-based digital health enablement startup, raised $3m in seed funding led by Kindred Ventures with participation from Uncommon Capital and Asymmetric Capital. http://morf.health/

• Healwell AI, a Toronto-based data company focused on preventive care, acquired Pentavere Research Group, a Toronto-based medication and intervention eligibility company. https://healwell.ai/

• AristaMD, a San Diego-based health care e-consult and referral company, merged with Sitka, an SF-based consult specialist service, and raised $16.5m in Series C funding. https://axios.link/46gjVA3

4. Deals o' the day

• Steve Lloyd, former chief product and tech officer (CPTO) at Strava, joined Sunnyside as CPTO. https://www.sunnyside.co/

• Philip Rutherford, former COO of Faces and Voices of Recovery, joined YourPath as COO. https://axios.link/47BCujf

• Charlotte Smith, former VP of sales at Vida Health, joined Take Command as director of partnerships. https://www.takecommandhealth.com/

• William Bates, former SVP at Ilumivu, joined Babyscripts as EVP of technology. https://babyscripts.com/

• Ellie Powers, former chief product officer at Oath Care, joined Proov as its first CPO. Also at Proov, Michael Park, former VP of marketing at Novos, joined as chief marketing officer. https://proovtest.com/

• Eric Perakslis, former chief digital officer at Duke Clinical Research Institute, joined ImiDomics as CTO. Also at ImiDomics, Digital Alchemy CEO Ramon Felciano joined as an adviser. https://www.imidomics.com/

• Susan Smith was promoted from SVP to COO at Centene Corporation. https://www.centene.com/

• Redox CEO Trip Hofer joined .406 Ventures as venture partner. https://www.406ventures.com/

• Bee Partners venture partner Garrett Goldberg became COO of Wellplaece. https://www.wellplaece.com/

5. It's Personnel

Situational awareness: Join Axios' Dan Primack tomorrow at 12:30pm ET for a virtual event looking at VC trends with guests Oak HC/FT's Annie Lamont and Sapphire Ventures' Rajeev Dham. Register here to attend virtually.

🐕 Aaron is looking forward to taking care of a new dog this weekend — Cooper, a 6-year-old golden retriever.

☑️ Thanks for reading, and extra thanks to newsletter editor Claire Rychlewski and copy editor Mickey Meece. Please ask your colleagues, friends, and family to sign up.

November 15, 2023

1 big thing: Telemental health biz UpLift buys Minded