Holding place for old articles.
Funding for digital health startups is continuing to grow at a steady pace, but is beginning to stabilize.
Health accelerator Rock Health’s midyear report, released today, found that digital health funding for the first half of 2013 represents 11 percent growth in investment and 24 percent growth in deals year over year. In short, it’s still growing, but not as fast as in previous years.
It’s been a slow year for startup fundraising—the investments doled out by venture firms in the first quarter dropped 6 percent compared with the same period of 2012. But at least a couple of sectors have been defying that trend. One is software, where funding for the first half of 2012 was up 38 percent over 2012 levels, and another is digital health, up 12 percent.
In a report issued yesterday (slides embedded below), San Francisco-based digital health accelerator Rock Health delved into the details behind that 12 percent number.
When health IT startups say they’re making a new technology platform for physicians, John Sung Kim has an immediate follow-up question – for what specialty?
That’s a question he learned was critical as he began building and trying to sell the platform developed by his first health startup, DoctorBase. It’s been a series of hits and misses, which Kim isn’t afraid to talk candidly about. In a recent interview, he explained to MedCity News one of the most surprising things he learned when he set out to build a mobile platform that would let doctors, administrators and patients communicate without having to pick up the phone.
It’s good to have friends in high places. Especially friends who can leverage more than 30 years of experience in technology and business to nurture and foster your startup seed.
1776, a new startup incubator based in Washington, D.C., just announced a brand-new partnership with Microsoft, in which leaders from the company will collaborate with startups to guide them from a technical and business standpoint.
“[Microsoft] will help startups to leverage platforms upon which they can build innovative apps with the ability to scale rapidly and efficiently,” says 1776 co-founder Donna Harris. “Through 1776, they’re also providing mentorships for architects who can ensure that startups are maximizing the potential of these tools and platforms.”
Registration for the fall semester of Technology Transfer Classes at the FAES Graduate School at NIH is now open. For the semester beginning on September 9th there will be 12 courses offered in the technology transfer program:
· TECH 506 – Research Commercialization Webinar Course: The Essentials
· TECH 513A Introduction to Technology Transfer — Issues and Processes (given by the Technology Transfer Society)
· TECH 521 – Tools for Technology Transfer
· TECH 565 – Biomedical Business Development for Scientists
· TECH 567 – International Strategic Partnering and Business Development
· TECH 579 – Introduction to Negotiation
· TECH 575 – Business Finance & Accounting Principles for Scientists
· TECH 583 – Patent Research for Non-Legal Practioners
· TECH 587 – Strategic Consulting for Tech Companies
· TECH 607 – Capstone Course in Technology Transfer
· PHAR 328 – FDA Perspective on Drug Development
· PHAR 500 – Principles of Clinical Pharmacology
More details can be found in the new 2013 course catalog (www.faes.org) with enrollment open to the general community. All classes are part of the “Advanced Studies in Technology Transfer” certificate program and can be fully transferred as a block into various MBA & MS degree programs at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) Graduate School.
There will also be an open house for the FAES Graduate School on Tuesday, August 20th from 4-7pm at the new FAES Classroom & Bookstore complex in Building 10.
Notice of Change to Earliest Start Date for Applications Submitted to RFA-DA-14-002 “Short-term Mentored Career Enhancement Awards in the Basic Behavioral and Social Sciences: Cross-Training at the Intersection of Animal Models and Human Investigation (K18)”
On June 26, 2013, United Therapeutics Corporation (the “Company”) held its 2013 annual meeting of shareholders. The Company’s shareholders considered three matters, each of which is described in more detail in the Company’s Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 30, 2013. The final voting results for the meeting are as follows:
1. The Company’s shareholders elected the following nominees as Class II directors, to serve three-year terms until the 2016 annual meeting of shareholders or until their successors are duly elected and qualified or their office is otherwise vacated, by the votes set forth below:
Five years ago I built a biotechnology innovation index and I have been using it since tracking global biotechnology innovation in Scientific American’s Worldview. It has been a very rewarding project, and I have enjoyed the opportunity to present my research data at international conferences, business schools, and even National Defense University.
Now, Worldview’s editor Mike May has compared my innovation scores with the Venture Capital and Private Equity Country Attractiveness (VCPECA) index. I was quite pleased to see a relatively strong correlation between my innovation index and the VCPECA index.
We knew that biotech companies were lighting up the stock market this year. Today, the National Venture Capital Association has fresh numbers illustrating Wall Street’s love affair with life sciences entrepreneurs—and the corresponding cold shower awaiting their counterparts in the tech sector.
The new report, comparing venture-backed IPOs with merger-and-acquisition deals, shows life sciences companies accounting for 13 of the 21 public stock listings in the second quarter.
Revolution Ventures, the early-stage venture capital arm of Steve Case’s Revolution LLC, has filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a planned $150 million fund. Named in the SEC filing are Case and managing partners Tige Savage and David Golden. Revolution Ventures II LP, as it’s named in the filing, follows the formation in 2011of Revolution Growth, which invests in more mature, later-stage companies. Revolution Growth, led by Case, Donn Davis and Ted Leonsis, is operated separately from the venture unit.
