#70 🍩 The Brain Computer Interface race, Grindr telehealth & Heidi Health's record revenue growths
Whats happening in health tech & innovation?
Well,
I don’t know about you - but after spending 2 days with 8000 of our nearest & dearest in digital health at the Digital Health Festival, I need a breather.
*Retreats back to behind our computers for 12 months*
BIG thanks to everyone who came by to say hey at our first-ever booth. Was a load of fun 💜
& of course huge shoutout to the legends at Digital Health Festival for having me back as a Speaker talking all things startups & Startup Pitch Judge again.
PS - so glad they took inspo for their new brand from the leaders in health innovation content & events 😉
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🍩 TODAY’S ISSUE
Newsworthy
Sick Science
AI Updates
Startup Stuff
Events
Cool Content
Brought to you with…
💜 Healthylife’s Living Healthy Report 2025
How is the digital world shaping our health?The way we eat, move, sleep, connect, & seek advice is being shaped by digital technology – but is it helping or hurting our health?
The Living Healthy Report 2025, brought to you by Healthylife, reveals how digital habits & tools are impacting our wellbeing, and what we can do to harness the digital world to better our health in their free download!
See what’s really driving health in the digital age 👇
💜 Vanta
Staying compliant in healthcare is tough — Vanta makes it easier 🔐 As a founder, finding product-market fit is key—but landing bigger customers requires compliance.
That’s where Vanta comes in. Our ISO 27001 checklist breaks down the process into clear steps, so you can spend less time on compliance & more time growing your business. Want your free compliance checklist?
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Noteworthy 🗞️
Funding
🚀 UNSW Founders & Luminary Partners will invest $3.6M in 18 deep tech startups, backing innovation in health through Aus’s largest uni accelerator
🧠 Foremind, Mental health startup, raised $1.5M from Giant Leap, Skalata, & the Snow Foundation to expand its workplace wellbeing platform
Newsworthy
📊 Heidi Health is Blackbird’s fastest-growing portfolio company ever, hitting $23M in annual revenue just a year after launch, surpassing early growth trends of Canva & Leonardo AI
🧠 Bupa will open 60 “Mindplace” mental health clinics across Aus by 2027
💥 StrongRoom AI was recommended for liquidation by administrators after revealing $18.5M in losses, misstated revenue & potential unfair transactions
🤖 Synchron co-founder Nicholas Opie unveiled his latest venture, Ultra Bionics, aiming to help fight Parkinson’s disease, epileptic seizures and depression using brain-computer interface technology
🧬 Tetratherix, regenerative med startup, is exploring a $100M-plus ASX IPO with Barrenjoey & Morgans to back its biomaterial for tissue repair
💊 ~400 medications are in short supply in Aus, & with 90% of meds imported, experts say local manufacturing could help - but it'll take years, coordination, & major investment
📅 HotDoc, the GP booking app, hired Allier Capital to explore a full sale, targeting a $200M valuation later this year
🔗 Alcidion partnered with Consultmed to embed e-referral tools into its Miya Precision platform
🩸 Dr Talat Uppal, a leading gynaecologist, is leading a push to rename hysterectomy to uterectomy, as stigma & outdated language continues to sideline heavy menstrual bleeding
🧠 The Hemingway Report found 41% of people use AI for mental health support, mostly through non-specialised tools like ChatGPT & Claude
💰 UniSuper increased its investment in Uniseed by $25M, bringing its total to $100M, backing uni & CSIRO-led startups
🚨 Falls remain the top cause of injury hospitalisation & death for Aussie women, making up 57% of hospitalisations & 58% of deaths in 2022–23
Gov Goss
💊 NSW Greens proposed a law to let trained nurses & midwives prescribe abortion drugs
💻 A NSW commission has urged the state to expand its $1B digital patient record system to include GPs & not-for-profit hospitals
2 news bits for the NT, their:
🧍♂️ Budget includes a $100M boost to health funding, totalling $2.3B, with extra support for primary care & a new mental health ward at Royal Darwin Hospital
🍼 Only private maternity ward will close in June, new postnatal ops include hotel stays at Mercure Darwin & at-home midwife support for eligible private patients
📢 NQPHN & Healthily will launch a voice AI campaign to lift childhood vaccination rates in northern QLD
US & Beyond the Borders 🌎
💊 Trump signed an executive order to cut US drug prices by tying them to the lowest global rates, with claimed price cuts of up to 30–80% if successful
🧪 Haemanthus, led by Elizabeth Holmes’s partner Billy Evans, is raising $50M for a device claiming to detect disease from tiny fluid samples
🍆 Grindr, a leading dating app for LGBTQ, launched Woodwork, a telehealth service offering erectile dysfunction meds to users in IL & PA
📈 Omada Health filed for IPO, to scale its outcomes-focused virtual care model for chronic conditions, with AI & insurer-backed revenue powering $170M in 2024
💍 Oura now sells Dexcom’s over-the-counter CGMs through its app, bundling glucose data with sleep, activity, & meals
⌚ Whoop reversed course after backlash over its 5.0 upgrade policy, now offering free devices to members with 12+ months left, after complaints that the original plan broke its promise of free upgrades after 6 months & unfairly charged loyal user
📉 WeightWatchers filed for bankruptcy after losing >$1B & 60% of its rev since 2012, as mismanagement & the rise of GLP-1 drugs outpaced its outdated weight loss model
🩸 Lucis turns routine blood tests into personalised health insights and is expanding from Paris across the EU to make longevity care accessible to all
🚐 Sprinter Health raised $55M to grow its at-home care service across 18 states, using smart logistics to deliver blood tests, screenings, & check-ups
🧫 Teal Health’s at-home cervical cancer test, backed by Serena Ventures, just became the first FDA-approved device for self-sampling & mail-in screening
🤖 AI Updates
💉 OpenAI launched HealthBench, which tests an LLM’s ability to be independent, built with 262 physicians using 5k realistic healthcare conversations
🧠 Sam Altman says the future of ChatGPT is a model that remembers your entire life - from every email to every conversation
🖥️ Oracle launched an AI electronic health record with voice search & smart summaries, to reclaim ground in the EHR market after its $28B Cerner acquisition
🧠 Microsoft’s healthcare agent orchestrator uses multimodal AI agents to extract, analyse, & summarise radiology, pathology, EHR, genomics, & guideline data, automating tumor board workflows inside Teams
📲 Epic rolled out a new AI SMS feature that lets patients book appointments by text, skipping portals & phone queues entirely
🧠 The FDA completed its 1st AI-assisted scientific review pilot & will roll out genAI tools across all centers by June 30, aiming to cut multi-day review tasks down to mins
🏥 Icahn School of Med is the 1st med school to roll out OpenAI’s secure ChatGPT Edu, marking a major step toward integrating AI into med education & training
🦄 SignalFire, a VC firm, released a report on who’s building health & pharma tech unicorns, & how AI is changing what it takes & how fast they grow
Sick Science
🧬 Baby cured with world’s first personalised gene-editing treatment
In a world-first, drs at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia & Uni of PA used custom in vivo gene editing to treat a baby with CPS1 deficiency - a rare genetic disorder that’s often fatal in the first week of life. The study describes how a lipid nanoparticle-delivered base editor was designed just for KJ, correcting his exact mutation. After two infusions at 7 & 8 months old, he was able to eat more protein, halve his medication dose, & recover from viral infections - all without serious side effects.
🧬 Can we insert whole genes without cutting DNA?
Researchers at the Broad Institute & Harvard used lab evolution to create evoCAST, a CRISPR-based tool that inserts full genes into human cells without breaking DNA. The team used a method called phage-assisted continuous evolution (PACE) to boost the system’s efficiency over 200-fold. EvoCAST inserted large gene segments at 14 genomic sites, including ones linked to cancer & rare diseases, with up to 30% success & no detectable off-target effects.
❤️ Why women’s hearts beat faster - literally
Researchers from Ohio State studied human heart tissue to understand why women have faster resting heart rates than men. Analysing the sinoatrial node (the heart’s natural pacemaker), they found that females had higher expression of key pacemaking genes like TBX3 & HCN1, which help drive faster beats. In contrast, males showed more activity in genes tied to inflammation & fibrosis - pathways linked to conduction blocks & atrial fibrillation.
🧠 Can overwork reshape your brain?
Researchers from several Korean unis scanned the brains of 110 healthcare workers to explore whether long hours change brain structure. They found that people working 52+ hours a week had increased volume in brain regions tied to decision-making & emotion control - including the middle frontal gyrus & insula. These changes could reflect the brain adapting to chronic stress, but may also signal strain. While the study was small & can't prove cause & effect, it’s the first to link overwork to structural brain differences.
Startup Stuff 🚀
Ready to Compete for $1M on a Global Stage?
The Startup World Cup is back & for the 1st time, Melb is hosting a regional final on July 22. Winners head to SF for the grand finale & a shot at the $1M investment prize - More here
Got Global Growth on Your Radar?
Nexus 2025 is open - connecting Aussie startups with the booming Chinese market through the Future City Innovators program. Winners score $20k in cash, a $15k travel package to Nanjing, & acceleration support to scale across Asia - More here
Building the future of Sport?
AO StartUps are taking applications for its mid-year intake. Backed by Tennis Aus & the Aus Open, the program helps startups pilot & scale breakthrough tech in sport, media, & fan engagement - More here
Got a Patient-Facing Health App Idea?
The Priority Digital Health Challenge 2025 is back, helping clinicians, founders & researchers turn bold digital health ideas into real-world impact. Backed by AWS, Cogniss & Validitron, the 12-month program supports solutions that improve care for patients & underserved communities - More here
Ready to Pitch on a Global Stage?
The SXSW Sydney Pitch 2025 is now open for applications. Finalists will go head-to-head in Oct, pitching ideas across AI, HealthTech, & more. Winners score global exposure, mentorship, & a trip to pitch at SXSW internationally – More here
Got a Big Idea Backed by Science?
Cicada x Tech23 is hunting for 23 standout Aussie deep tech startups. If you’re building world-changing tech, this is your chance to get in front of top investors, industry leaders & media – More here
Events💥
22nd May: CSIRO x Cicada Innovations: Scaling Deep Tech with the Right Partners – Lessons from Founders (Syd)
22nd May: Unconventional Startups: What Sextech Entrepreneurs Can Teach Us About Launching a Startup (Melb)
27th May: CHICC Expert Workshop: Can I Insure That? A Holistic Approach to Risk Management (Melb)
28th May: Taking your Startup to Asia (Melb)
29th May: Networking Lunch & Learn with Oury Clark (Melb)
3 - 5th June: ARCS Annual Conference (Syd)
5th June: NDIS Reporting: A practical guide for physiotherapists & EPs (online)
11th June: Running a Clinical Trial at Westmead. A HealthTech Hub Masterclass (Syd)
23rd - 24th June: Health Insurance Summit (Melb)
4 - 5th June: International Mental Health Conference (GC)
10 - 13th June: LSI ASIA
16 - 19th June: BIO
17 - 28th June: Towards One Healthcare System Summit (Canberra)
Consumable Content 💎
🎙️The Daily Aus: The young Aussies using Ozempic
A supposed ~1 in 10 young Aussies have tried Ozempic or similar medications. In this 3 part deep dive, the daily Aus takes a look at the who, what and why behind this new trend
🎙️Offcall: The Future of Primary Care Is Independence & It’s More Lucrative Than You Think
In this ep Dr. Graham Walker joins Farzad to unpack the root causes of physician burnout, the profit-driven logic behind hospital consolidation, & why doctors are treated as replaceable parts in a billing-focused system
📖 Halle Tecco’s analysis in “Can digital health solve the $300B medication adherence problem? Hear me out” discusses how startups tackling cost, access & personalisation might be the answer to one of healthcare’s most $$$ & deadliest challenges
📖 Philips released the “Future Health Index” which explores (*shock*) AI & how it’s helping clinicians & patients, & what’s needed to build trust
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Caio for now
👋 Emily,
Mariah & team WTH
With thanks to our partners 💜
Want to get featured here in front of >9300 health-loving legends?
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Awesome seeing you, Emily and WTH team!
The brain-computer interface Ultra Bionics targets real-time neural modulation for Parkinson’s. EvoCAST enables full gene insertion without DNA breaks, potentially revolutionizing gene therapies for rare diseases and cancer.