#79 🍩 The $100m companion robot company & Open AI's new health product team
Whats happening in health tech & innovation?
Morning amigos
Coming to you today from the beautiful Ullapool in the Scottish Highlands, as I (try) take a second out to touch grass, do nature ft culturally significant 5000-year-old rocks and hang out with my amazing mother.
Tell you what - ain’t no better way to disconnect than being in the most remote parts of the world.
Anyway, we still have some health insights and news tidbits to share with you…
Onto this week’s issue
🍩 TODAY’S ISSUE
Noteworthy News
AI Updates
Sick Science
Startup Stuff
Events
Brought to you with… 💜 Vanta
Navigating AI & Compliance in Healthcare: Panel DiscussionHow do healthcare leaders manage AI risk, navigate evolving regulations, & scale compliance efficiently with increasingly limited resources?
Watch this panel with Vanta, Modern Health & US Med-Equip to discover how!
& 💜 Fitt Insider
Fitt Insider tracks the $4T global wellness industry, then delivers the most important trends, insights, & startups straight to your inbox!From longevity tech to metabolic health & human performance, Fitt Insider connects the dots so you can stay informed, move faster, & execute with confidence.
Join this killer community of operators, founders, & investors driving the wellness economy forward.
Noteworthy 🗞️
Funding
🤖 Andromeda, the Melbourne startup building AI-powered humanoid companion robots (“Abi”) for aged care, raised a $23M Series A at a $100M valuation, to help with expansion into the US market
🩹Nutromics bagged $7.5M to accelerate its wearable “lab-on-a-patch” that captures real-time molecular data using DNA biosensors & microneedles
🧬 Lucia Bio raised an extra $2M to advance its Syk inhibitor program for neuroinflammatory & autoimmune diseases, bringing its Seed round to $3M
🧠 Monash Uni snagged $1.9M to roll out brain-training therapy for alcohol dependence across 14 clinics nationwide
This marks the first real-world implementation of the tech, which helps retrain patients' automatic responses to alcohol triggers via computer or smartphone
🧪 CUREator awarded $1.23M in milestone-based grants to 6 high-performing biotechs:
xCystence Bio – Developing a new class of drugs for polycystic kidney disease
Frontier Inflammasome Therapeutics – Creating small molecule drugs for inflammatory skin & lung conditions
RAGE Biotech – Building inhaled RNA therapies targeting chronic lung disease
Cincera Therapeutics – Advancing novel antifibrotic drugs for diseases like IPF
Kraken Coding – Developing Clinical Branches, a mobile antimicrobial prescribing tool
Spritz-OM – Creating a nasal probiotic to prevent childhood ear infections & reduce antibiotic use
Newsworthy
🧪 Victoria is launching a $17.5M Monash Velos Accelerator to drive heart health innovation, connecting hospitals, startups & researchers
🌏 Aus pledged $266M to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB, & malaria across the Indo-Pacific, amid alarming HIV surges in PNG & Fiji
💉 Aus’s cosmetic industry has new rules with under-18s facing a 7-day cooling-off, social media testimonials banned & nurses needing extra supervised training before injectables
🤝 Ovum x Women’s Health Road partnered, offering an extended free trial of Ovum to all WHR clinic patients
🦷 Eyes of AI will lead a $6.7M project to build a contactless AI tool for gum disease screening, backed by a $2.2M fed grant & partnerships with CSIRO, USYD & 3Shape
🏥 RACGP, ACRRM & Medical Deans revealed that 33% of Aussie med grads are entering GP training, with Monash, JCU, & Notre Dame leading the way in shaping Australia’s future rural & urban GP workforce
👃 Centenary Institute & USYD developed a nasal COVID-19 booster that showed strong protection in mice by blocking the virus at the entry point
💊 Aus’s PBS medicines will be cheaper next year with >900 drugs capped at $25 from Jan 2026 while concession holders continue paying $7.70 per script
🏠 Mark Butler agreed to release 20K extra Home Care packages by Oct 31 & another 23K by mid-2026, ahead of the delayed aged care reforms
📠 Aus’s $2.5B healthcare system is still stuck on paper & fax with the Business Council warning costs could top 10% of GDP & urging a $5.4B digital makeover
US & Beyond Borders
👟 Strava run club creation hit record highs with Brazil up 8.8x, France 6.5x & the US 4x y-o-y as Gen Z flocks to group running for community, not just performance
🧬 US consumers spend > $500B on wellness but remain wary of longevity, with only 18% using healthtech & most preferring quality of life over sci-fi biohacks
💰 Pitchbook’s report revealed VC in healthtech hit $7.9B in H1 2025, on track for its best year since 2022, driven by mega-rounds, rising valuations, & strong IPO debuts from Hinge & Omada
😞 Gen Z is now the most miserable age group globally, with multiple surveys showing young people reporting worse mental health than older adults for the first time in decades
🫀 J&J’s Impella heart pump added an average 600 days of life over 10 years for STEMI patients in cardiogenic shock, cutting mortality by 16.3% in new long-term trial results
🤖 AI Updates
🧠 Flare Capital Partners report states 58% of 2025 healthcare deals involve AI, with 2/3 of US physicians already using it & value consolidating into a few breakout companies as the battle shifts to owning the clinician assistant stack
🩺 OpenAI is building a health product team with Nate Gross (Doximity) & Ashley Alexander (Instagram) leading the charge
& OpenAI is opening its first Aus office in Sydney 👀🇦🇺
📞 Assort Health raised $50M at a $750M valuation to expand its AI voice agents that automate patient calls for specialty clinics, just four months after its $22M Series A
🩺 Researchers from IMC used an AI stethoscope across 12K+ UK patients to detect heart conditions in 15 secs, 2x heart failure diagnoses & 3x atrial fibrillation detection in GP clinics
🧠 Sage Growth Partners finds 83% of execs see AI improves decision-making but only 13% have a clear implementation strategy
Sick Science
🏃♂️ Can exercise slow your biological clock?
In a perspective review from Tohoku & Waseda Uni, researchers synthesised evidence on how physical activity, fitness & structured exercise affect DNA methylation–based epigenetic clocks. Observational studies link higher cardiorespiratory fitness with slower epigenetic ageing, while interventions show that structured training can even reverse biological age in blood & muscle. Effects vary by individual & organ, but Olympic athletes & high-fitness groups consistently show younger epigenetic profiles.
👃 Can an allergy spray help block COVID-19?
In a phase 2 randomised trial at Saarland Uni Hospital, 450 healthy adults used a nasal spray for 56 days, with azelastine users having fewer PCR-confirmed COVID infections (2.2%) than placebo (6.7%), & they also had fewer symptomatic cases & fewer colds (rhinovirus). Side effects were mostly mild & expected (bitter taste, occasional nosebleeds).
🧩 Could a hidden virus shape Parkinson’s disease?
In a study from Northwestern University, researchers used whole-virome sequencing to detect human pegivirus (HPgV) in 50% of Parkinson’s brains but none of the controls. HPgV-positive patients showed more advanced tau pathology, altered synaptic protein levels, & disrupted IL-4 immune signalling in both brain & blood. Responses varied by genetics: carriers of LRRK2 mutations had opposite immune reactions compared to non-carriers, with the YWHAB gene emerging as a key hub in this divergence.
Startup Stuff 🚀
Have a promising digital health startup ready to scale?
ANDHealth+ opened apps for its flagship incubator program, offering up to $5M in non-dilutive funding alongside hands-on support from a world-class network of experts to help you grow globally - More here
Developing a breakthrough in cancer care?
Johnson & Johnson’s Unlocking Urologic Oncology QuickFire Challenge is accepting apps for innovations in bladder & prostate cancer care, offering up to $300K in grants plus virtual access to J&J’s global network - More here
Working on a game-changing genomics or precision medicine solution?
The MRFF’s Genomics Health Futures Mission has a new grant round open to fund projects improving medication efficacy via pharmacogenomics & genomic solutions to tackle diseases prevalent among Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples - More here
Based in WA & need help getting to a big conference?
WA’s Health & Medical Life Sciences Market Access Grant scheme offers 80% of eligible travel costs (up to $5K) for WA healthtech SMEs to attend national or international industry events - More here
Want to level up your health startup know-how?
The NSW Health Commercialisation Training Program is offering a free 3-day Business Fundamentals bootcamp for budding healthtech entrepreneurs. It covers how to form a company, navigate regulations, get funding-ready & build your team – all taught by industry experts in law, finance, & sales - More here
Got a women’s health research idea ready to go?
The Foundation for Women’s Health is accepting Letters of Intent for projects tackling critical gaps across the female life course. Focus areas this year include mental health in teen girls, uterine cancer, CVD in pregnancy, vaccine uptake, autoimmune disease, & fibroids – More here
Building the next big healthtech startup in Australia?
LX is a leading accelerator backing 10 Aussie health startups with up to $200K in funding, plus hands-on support, expert coaching, & access to 300+ clinicians, investors, & operators – More here
Got a Health Care Innovation Idea?
CSIRO’s Innovate to Grow program is open for Aussie SMEs looking to turn their health care ideas into R&D projects. This free 8-week course provides guidance, expert feedback, & funding pathways to bring your innovation to life - More here
Events💥
10th Sept: Cicada x Tech23 (Syd)
11th Sept: Startmate Alumni Demo Day (Syd)
16 - 17th Sept: HIKM 2025, Empowering Health: AI Innovations (online)
16 - 18th Sept: Australian Public Health Conference 2025 (Wollongong)
18 - 19th Sept: National Disability Summit (Melb)
30th Sept - 2nd Oct: Ageing Aus National Conference (GC)
5 - 8th Oct: The MedTech Conference (San Diego)
8 - 9th Oct: Rural & Remote Health Scientific Symposium (Perth)
16th Oct: Future of Health Asia (Singapore)
21st Oct: Primary Care. Digitally Connected. (Syd)
30th Oct: BrainTech 2025 (Melb)
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👋 Emily,
Mariah, Victoria & team WTH
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