#87 🍩 Euc's $1.6bn sale, Heidi Evidence & HotDoc's new PE investor
Whats happening in health tech & innovation?
Hello friends,
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Welcome to March.
What a crazy time. Thoughts and prayers to those involved in the Iran situation and Dubai.💜 Whilst Anthropic is out of the good graces of the White House.
But also, big excitement on the investment and fund returns front in healthtech here in Aus.
And, at least thanks to Friday’s wonderful panel, we know a little of what’s happening in Llms.
Ok - lots to catch up on since we’ve been MIA.
Onto the news...
🍩 TODAY’S ISSUE
Noteworthy News
AI Updates
Sick Science
Startup Stuff
Cool Content
Brought to you with… 💜 Australian Healthcare Week
Interested in whats cutting edge in healthcare? Want to hear from leaders? Or mingle with other innovators?
Come join the health industry and leading Aussie healthtech Startups & Scaleups taking centre stage at Healthcare 2040 Expo, part of Australian Healthcare Week!
There’s a dedicated Start-Up & Investor Program - for bold ideas, real stories and the people shaping the future of health. Hear from early-stage disruptors and learn what it takes to scale, with real-world insights from companies like Heidi Health!
🏆 And even a pitch fest with 3 different categories: Improving Clinician Experience, Transforming Consumer Experience & Evolving Models of Care.
📅 11-12 March
📍 ICC Sydney
🎟️ Register for free 👇
Noteworthy 🗞️
Funding
💰 Eucalyptus is selling to US telehealth giant Hims & Hers for $1.6B (~$1.15B USD; $240M upfront + deferred/earnouts to 2029), turning the Oz weight-loss leader Pilot, Juniper into its international arm.
🩸 On the House raised a $1.7M Seed round to scale its model, providing free period products in public bathrooms, using ad-funded digital dispensers
👩🏻💻 Splose, raised a record-breaking $46M Series A round led by Spectrum Equity to scale their PMS
🤝 HBF launched the $25M HBF Ventures fund (with Artesian) targeting 15-20 digital health, care models, & preventative startups over 10 years
🩺 HotDoc CEO Ben Hurst announced a majority stake investment led by Potentia Capital (in a previously estimated $250-300M deal) alongside Acclivis and AirTree, celebrating 13 years from startup funding to transforming GP practice sustainability
💰 Tenmile announced their latest portfolio additions
🧪 Amaroq Therapeutics - pioneering finding and developing novel oncogenic long-non coding RNA targets in the dark genome
🧬 Creyon Bio - building AI-enabled, RNA-targeting therapies with tissue specific delivery to unlock safer, more precise medicines
🎯 Cuttlefish Bio - advancing highly targeted enzyme-based therapies designed to improve outcomes in solid tumours
💜 Kantoko - delivering accessible and supportive care management for treatment of ADHD
🔬 Oncko - using advanced biology and AI to identify optimal combination therapies for cancer
🌱 ProtoAxiom announced their investment in Flo Axiom, a Griffith University spin-out tackling one of the biggest bottlenecks in pharma production: purification
Newsworthy
🚀 Heidi launched Heidi Evidence, their clinical research tool built in partnership with EMGuidance and NICE Guidelines and Heidi Comms, and acquired AutoMedica
🗣️ Mindset Health is using ElevenLabs’ AI voice tech to personalise & scale its gut–brain digital therapeutics, achieving 85–90% session completion rates with AI-generated audio performing on par with human-recorded voices
⚠️ Drs warn Aus’s weight-loss ad surge is skirting the law as GLP-1 demand explodes
🏥 Macquarie Health Corporation is preparing to cut contracts with dozens of private insurers, escalating a funding dispute that could leave 100,000s of patients facing higher out-of-pocket fees or needing to seek care elsewhere
👨🏼⚕️ ~2,500 junior doctors launched a class action against St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, claiming unpaid overtime and a culture of excessive off-the-books hours
🔬 Dr Monique Ryan MP launched a campaign calling on the federal government to increase the amount released from the Medical Research Future Fund
🍿 Health star ratings will become mandatory on all packaged foods in Australia following a vote by food and health ministers
👵 Aged care wait times have surged, with elderly Aussies waiting an average of 245 days for home care services & 27 days to be assessed
🤝 Eucalyptus partnered with Consultmed to enable secure GP–clinic communication & shared care for patients using its Juniper medically supervised weight-loss service
… and faces accusations from Manila-based medical staff of unpaid overtime, rising workloads, & underpay after performance targets were increased
🇨🇳 Telix Pharmaceuticals received Chinese regulatory clearance to proceed with filing its prostate cancer imaging agent, Illuccix
🦷 Tetratherix signed an exclusive global distribution deal with Henry Schein, paving the way for US & international launch of its bone regeneration product
🩺 Ex-NSW Chief Health Officer Nick Coatsworth welcomes Health Minister Mark Butler’s mandatory specialist fee disclosure but calls it “necessary but not sufficient”
US & Beyond Borders
🧬 FDA cleared first human epigenetic reprogramming trial as Life Biosciences gets approval to begin a Phase 1 study of ER-100, a gene therapy using partial cellular reprogramming to safely rejuvenate retinal cells in age-related eye diseases
🌬️ Climatic raised $10M to bring preventative lung health into everyday wellness, backing a non-prescription inhaler system
🦠 Nipah virus outbreak in India has confirmed 2 cases with a high fatality risk, but limited human-to-human spread means global risk remains low as authorities increase monitoring & precautions
🦾 Sword Health acquired Kaia Health for $285M, expanding its AI-driven musculoskeletal platform into Germany
💰 Midi Health bagged $100M Series D to reach unicorn status & scale a national, insurance-backed women’s healthcare platform
🏥 HHS plans $100M addiction & homelessness initiative to fund recovery-focused outreach, psychiatric care, crisis intervention, & treatment programs under its new STREETS framework
💰Santé Ventures, an early-stage healthcare and life sciences investment fund, closed its fifth fund with $330M (USD) in committed capital
🤖 AI Updates
🤖 Amazon One Medical rolled out an agentic health AI assistant inside its app, giving members 24/7 personalised health guidance
💰 OpenEvidence raised a $250M Series D at a $12B valuation to scale its AI-powered medical search platform, now used by over 40% of US physicians
👨👩👧👦 Fitbit founders launched Luffu to build an AI “family care system” that helps households track shared health data, spot changes, & coordinate caregiving
🏥 AI in hospitals is paying off in radiology, documentation, call centres, & insurance appeals, but fails when treated as a replacement rather than a second set of eyes
The Wall Street Journal analysis found ~27% of health systems pay for commercial AI tools (3× the broader economy). At Northwestern Medicine, AI nearly halved radiology read times & flagged missed findings, while Mount Sinai used AI-assisted insurance appeals to overturn more denials & add ~$12M in annual revenue
🧠 ARISE Healthcare Network’s The State of Clinical AI 2026 Report finds clinical AI delivers “superhuman” results on narrow tasks but fails under uncertainty & works best as a teammate, not a replacement.
🩺 Lotus Health snagged $35M to scale a free, AI primary care platform that delivers diagnosis, prescriptions, & referrals nationwide, with human doctors reviewing/ signing off on clinical decisions
🤖 Oura launched its first proprietary LLM for women’s health in Oura Labs, powering a new Advisor that blends clinician-curated knowledge with biometric data for personalised guidance across menstrual cycles to menopause
Sick Science
💊 Digital blood testing almost at hand?
UNSW & Nutromics’ lab-in-a-patch wearable aced a pilot trial monitoring vancomycin levels via aptamer sensors in interstitial fluid – more comfy than blood draws, with ICU trials underway & US approval eyed for 2027 to enable continuous drug & biomarker tracking.
⌚ Do your wearables protect your health data, or quietly expose it?
Digital Medicine living review analysed the privacy policies of 17 major wearable companies using a 24-point risk framework spanning transparency, data use, user control, security, & breach response.
3/4 of companies scored high risk for transparency reporting, 65% for vulnerability disclosure, & 59% for breach notification, despite collecting continuous biometric data at massive scale. Apple, Google, & Polar ranked lowest risk, while Xiaomi, Wyze, & Huawei ranked highest, revealing sharp gaps in data governance across the industry.
💉 Can optimism boost your immune response to a vaccine?
A Nature Medicine study tested whether brain activity linked to positive expectations can shape immune function. Using real-time neurofeedback, 85 volunteers learned to activate specific brain networks before receiving a hepatitis B vaccine. Activity in the brain’s reward centre, specifically the ventral tegmental area, was strongly linked to higher antibody responses after vaccination. Crucially, this effect tracked with hopeful expectations about the future, not general good mood or pleasure.
🧠 World-first study suggests ADHD underdiagnosis in women
A Journal of Psychiatric Research study out of the Monash School of Translational Medicine has found there may be a systemic misdiagnosis and underdiagnosis of ADHD in women, rather than a male predisposition to ADHD. More than 70% of survey participants said their ADHD symptoms worsened after childbirth, and nearly all women reported that symptoms worsened during menopause. 88% of women surveyed reported that their ADHD symptoms changed throughout their menstrual cycle.
🌡️ Is continuous hormone tracking the next big healthtech blind spot?
Stanford startup Clair built a wearable with 10 biosensors that estimates estrogen, progesterone, LH, FSH (plus cortisol, thyroid) in real time using skin temp, HRV, heart rate, breath, EDA & sleep data through AI – no blood/urine needed, shipping November for daily insights from periods to menopause.
Startup Stuff 🚀
Ready to scale a digital or connected health startup in Vic?
ACTIVATE is a 6-month accelerator backed by LaunchVic, designed for Vic healthtech startups that have reached MVP & are ready to grow. The program offers hands-on mentoring, deep commercialisation support, & access to ANDHealth’s global network to help founders get investor- & enterprise-ready. More here
Early-stage founder and not quite accelerator-ready yet?
Pre X, the 4-week pre-accelerator from UNSW Founders, is designed to help first-time & early founders validate their idea, sharpen customer discovery, & build core business skills. It’s a fast, free pathway to expert mentoring, tailored workshops, & a powerful startup network – More here
Building the next wave of Australian healthtech?
LX Health is taking applications for its 2026 accelerator, supporting 10 Aus health startups with investment (up to $200k), deep commercialisation support, & access to a powerful network of clinicians, operators, & VCs. Since 2021, LX has helped founders raise $33M & scale globally – More here
Early Stage Starup looking for a leg up?
The MedTech Actuator Accelerator is taking applications for its program designed to fast-track early-stage healthcare startups in Australia & APAC through the complex process of commercialisation. Spanning several months, they provide BioTech, MedTech, and HealthTech founders with intensive mentorship, hands-on guidance from industry experts, & a structured pathway to secure seed to Series A investment - More here
Want to up your grant game in WA?
MTPConnect’s new WAGES program is here to help WA researchers, clinicians, & startups sharpen their grant applications for national funding rounds like the MRFF. Backed by the WA Government, this 3-year pilot offers early-stage support, expert advice, & partnership-building to up your chances of success – 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
Got a big idea and looking for the right launchpad?
Antler is now taking applications for its global Residency Program, where exceptional founders come together to build &scale world-changing startups. It’s a full-time, in-person opportunity to find your co-founder, validate your idea, & tap into Antler’s global network of investors & mentors. - 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
Turning research into startup?
Breakthrough Victoria 2026 Fellowship offers paid researchers (undergrad/postgrad/recent Vic uni grads) $150k per startup + founder salary to build from an idea to investment-ready, with hands-on UIP support.
2025 cohort: IVF embryo imaging, AI skin cancer detection, mental health games
- More here
VC backed?
Anthropic Claude Startup Program offers free API credits, priority rate limits, exclusive events/office hours, & tools (Claude Code, team workspaces) for early-stage founders—trusted by Cursor, Perplexity, Replit - More here
Cool Content 💎
🎙️Ill-conceived: Inside Australia’s IVF money-making machine
The AFR discusses how Aus’ IVF industry has become increasingly commercialised under PE ownership, fuelling rapid growth in egg freezing & add-on treatments while raising serious concerns about patient pressure, false hope, rising costs, staff strain & whether $$$ is being prioritised over care
📖 Breyer Capital 2026 healthcare & life sciences predictions
The AI healthcare gold rush is here | Equity Podcast - video below
🔮 Lightspeed’s 5 Healthcare AI themes for 2026
After closing >$9B in new funds, Lightspeed shared where it’s placing its healthcare AI bets. From clinical AI closing access gaps to employers becoming the proving ground for cost reduction, to long-horizon plays like robotics & brain–computer interfaces
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Adios Amigos
👋 Emily,
Mariah, Victoria & Team WTH
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