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BFD Expert Voices - Health Tech Deals

BFD Expert Voices

🎤 Situational awareness: Axios BFD, our annual dealmakers summit, returns to NYC on Oct. 22, featuring Ro co-founder and CEO Zach Reitano, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman and more top dealmakers.

View the rest of our lineup and purchase your ticket here. Pro subscribers get a 50% discount with the code AxiosProSub.

Feno, a smart toothbrush and oral health startup, raised a $6 million seed, CEO Kenny Brown tells Axios exclusively.

Why it matters: Oral health is linked to whole body health and issues with teeth and gums can lead to heart disease and stroke.

How it works: The Feno smart brush, in addition to being a cleaning tool, analyzes oral health markers to detect broader systemic risks.

Its app allows users to track brushing habits, provides an oral health report and lets users chat with an oral health coach.

The coaches are globally trained dentists that have gone through a Feno oral health training program. All oral health insights are reviewed and approved by U.S.-based, licensed dentists.

The product is sold directly to consumers via its website now, but Brown says Feno plans to sell to retailers and dental practices soon.

Zoom in: Bold Capital Partners led the round with participation from True Ventures, Upfront Ventures and Share Ventures.

The Culver City, California-based company had raised $6.215 million before this round. Brown declined to disclose the company's revenue.

"We have sold out of our first three batches and are growing month over month," he says.

What's next: The runway for this funding is at least a couple of years, but Feno may not wait that long.

"Because of our progress and road map ahead, I would hope we would be able to go sooner."

🪥 Fun fact: Feno was derived from the word phenotype, the physical expression of our genes.

"Feno was a nod to the various expressions of our DNA that could be appreciated in the mouth," Brown says.

Feno nets $6M for smart toothbrush

Illustration of toothpaste forming a dollar symbol.

EQT is considering selling a part of its stake in WS Audiology, valuing the global hearing aid maker at about $7.8 billion, Bloomberg reports.

Why it's the BFD: In 2022, the FDA approved the sale of hearing aids over the counter — a major change that broadened access significantly.

WS Audiology partnered with Sony that year to develop and supply OTC hearing aids for the U.S. market.

This month, regulators authorized Apple's hearing aid feature, an over-the-counter hearing aid software device intended to be used with the Apple AirPods Pro.

Zoom in: Swedish buyout firm EQT is working with Goldman Sachs to identify buyers for a part of its 49% stake in WS Audiology.

Deliberations are preliminary and EQT could elect to keep its stake, Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the matter. 

By the numbers: WS Audiology has 45 offices globally and reported €669 million in revenue for the three months ending June 30 — a 12% jump from the same period in 2023.

More than 30 million American adults report some degree of hearing loss.

Catch up quick: EQT created Denmark- and Singapore-headquartered WS Audiology in 2019, merging portfolio company Sivantos and Widex.

EQT owns the hearing aid maker alongside the Tøpholm and Westermann families, the Lundbeck Foundation and Santo Holdings.

Lundbeck paid $290 million for a nearly 8% stake in the business in April.

State of play: WS Audiology competes with a few publicly traded global hearing aid suppliers. 

GN has a market cap of about $4 billion, while Demant hovers at around $8.4 billion and Swiss Sonova at a whopping $20 billion. 

Privately held American Starkey is also among the major suppliers. 

Goldman Sachs declined to comment. EQT did not respond to a request for comment. 

EQT weighs WS Audiology stake sale

an illustration of a child's ear and ears cropped out of money surrounded by colorful shapes

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

• Zing Health, a Chicago Medicare Advantage insurer, raised a $140m undisclosed round with participation from Health 2047 Capital Partners, CRG, and First Trust Capital Partners and insiders Newlight Partners, Town Hall Ventures, Health 2047, and Leavitt Equity Partners. Go deeper

• Qure.ai, a New York-based health tech company, raised a $65m Series D led by Lightspeed and 360 One Asset. New investors Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Kae Capital also participated and were joined by existing investors Novo Holdings, Health Quad, and TeamFund. Go deeper

• Helaina, a New York-based maker of human-equivalent bioactive proteins, raised $45m in Series B funding, per Axios Pro. Avidity Partners led, and was joined by Spark Capital, Ingeborg Investments, Barrel Ventures, Siam Capital, Relish Works, CF Private Equity, and Primary Venture Partners. Go deeper

• Arya Health, a New York-based health care payroll automation platform, raised $4m in seed funding led by Twelve Below. aryahealth.ai

• 3B Scientific, a German portfolio company of G Square and 1315 Capital, acquired Veterinary Simulator Industries, a Canadian developer of veterinary simulation models. 3bscientific.com

• Vald, an Australian provider of musculoskeletal screening and rehab tech, raised an undisclosed amount of growth equity funding from FTV Capital. vald.com

• Everise, a Warburg Pincus and Brookfield Asset Management-backed health care customer experience company, acquired Continuum Global Solutions, a Dallas customer services company. Go deeper

• Blue Wolf Capital acquired seven European pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities from Sweden-based Recipharm, as well as Synerlab, a CDMO headquartered in Strasbourg, France, and will create a new CDMO platform with the assets. Go deeper

• Sanner Group, a GHO Capital-backed German health care packaging and medical device CDMO, acquired Gilero, a Durham, N.C., medical equipment manufacturer. Go deeper

• American Healthcare REIT, an Irvine, Calif., health care real estate company,  acquired the remaining 24% minority membership interest in Trilogy REIT Holdings, including its integrated senior health campuses. Go deeper

Deals o' the day

• Mark Dorman, former VP of finance at Datapeople, joined Axuall as CFO. Go deeper

• Mark Garvin, former chief operating officer at United Surgical Partners International, joined Banner Health as SVP for partnership and new venture development. Go deeper

• Saurabh Johri, former chief scientific officer at Babylon Health, joined Infermedica as chief AI adviser. infermedica.com

It's Personnel

🎤 Takeaways from the Novo Nordisk hearing — Axios

💼 Private equity calls in experts to fix companies they can't sell — Bloomberg

💊 Cassidy expands 340B inquiry to drugmakers — Axios

👀 AI's latest trick: Repurposing old drugs for rare diseases — Axios

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💖 Thanks for reading, and extra thanks to newsletter editor George Moriarty and copy editor Egan Millard. Please ask your colleagues, friends and family to sign up.

1 big thing: Feno nets $6M for smart toothbrush

2. The BFD: EQT weighs WS Audiology stake sale

3. Deals o' the day

4. It's Personnel

5. Your daily dose

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September 25, 2024

1 big thing: Feno nets $6M for smart toothbrush