Cue Health, a small diagnostics research company based in San Diego, kept a ultra-low profile until the pandemic hit. Now the company is making headlines with their recent IPO that helped them pick up an additional $200 million.

In 2020, when demand for reliable instant COVID tests went through the roof, Cue Health leaped into action and developed a test that got rave reviews.

Rising star. After receiving its first emergency use authorization for their tests from the Food and Drug last year, Cue Health started snagging some VIP customers, including the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Basketball Association, and Google.

Now Cue Health will provide test kits for all of Google’s U.S.-based employees through the end of the year – and the company leveraged that deal to debut on the stock market at a value of nearly $3 billion.

Fever pitch. We’ve got our finger on the pulse (pun intended) of healthcare and medical technology, and the news is coming hot and fast these days. Medtech companies saw 288 venture deals between June 2020 and June 2021, and VC funding in the industry reached a high of  $9.1 billion. 

Healthtech companies in emerging startup ecosystems are innovating at a record pace due to the pandemic. Here a few highlights from recent news:

The world of wearables: The global wearable fitness tracker market size was reportedly $23.17 billion in 2020, and it’s expected to reach $26.34 billion in 2021. Boston-based Whoop recently raised an additional $200 million in a Series F for its digital fitness wearable device for athletes.

Telehealth talks: Consumers continue to love (and use!) telehealth. McKinsey reported the use of telehealth increased 38x from the pre-pandemic baseline. With this acceleration, McKinsey predicts that up to $250 billion of current American healthcare could be shifted to virtual care.

Pharma far-out: Delix Therapeutics is developing new medications that have the same therapeutic benefits as psychedelics, without highs or hallucinations. The startup closed a $70 million in Series A financing at the end of September. 

Commitment to healthcare quality: Medical device quality management software company Greenlight Guru announced that it received a roughly $120 million investment from JMI Equity – so it looks like there is a strong commitment to putting the best possible health technology on the market.

We’re going to unpack even more health tech innovation in several important sessions at our upcoming Powderkeg Unvalley conference. You’ll be able to learn about top Health Tech teams like health intelligence platform Springbuk as well as Hc1, a leader in bioinformatics.

You don’t want to miss the Powderkeg Unvalley sessions with these Health Tech leaders: 

• Troy Dayon, President of STANLEY Healthcare, a part of STANLEY Security: Global provider of integrated security, health, and safety solutions and services
  
• Dr. Ryan Hungate, CEO & Founder of Simplifeye: More than 8,000 healthcare professionals trust Simplifeye to help them acquire patients, increase revenue, and streamline front desk.   
• Rob McLaughlin, Chief Product Officer at Zotec Partners: A leader in technology-enabled and data-driven healthcare revenue cycle management.

Check out some of the fastest growing health tech companies in the Unvalley – remember, many of these companies are hiring!

Health Tech Startups:

• Green Sun Medical (Fort Collins, CO): A company that specializes in braces for children with scoliosis.
  
• Basil Leaf Technologies  (Paoli, PA): Develops interactive, consumer-level products that empower individuals to monitor and improve their personal health.
  
• Nicotrax INC (Raleigh, NC): A smoking cessation system that creates optimized cessation plans based on automatically collected behavioral data.
  
• Empiric Health (Salt Lake City, UT): A technology-enabled service platform that lowers cost and improves outcomes for health system customers through data-driven physician practice change.
  
• One Step Software (Los Angeles, CA): A company that helps treatment centers and sober living homes track outcomes and effectively engage clients in their recovery

Scaleup Health Tech Companies:

• CollaborateMD (Orlando, FL): Provides Cloud Medical Billing and Practice Management Software to medical offices and medical billing services across the U.S.
  
• NeoLight (Phoenix, AZ):  A medical device company that develops phototherapy beds to cure jaundice in pre-term and full term babies.
  
• Carie Health (Holbrook, NY): A mobile healthcare solution that allows
  members to connect with a network of U.S. board-certified doctors.
  
• Higi (Chicago, IL): A platform that enables & empowers users to self-screen their biometrics & share that data with a trusted health professional.
  
• KenSci (Seattle, WA): A machine learning powered risk prediction platform helps healthcare providers and payers intervene early by identifying clinical, financial and operational risk to save costs and lives.

Big Health Tech Companies:

• Tempus (Chicago, IL): A technology company advancing precision medicine through the practical application of artificial intelligence in healthcare.
  
• Accolade (Plymouth Meeting, PA): A health, wellness, and fitness company that features personalized health and benefits solutions that help to improve the experience, outcomes, and cost of healthcare for employers.
  
• NeoGenomics (Fort Myers, FL): A cancer reference laboratory that provides cancer testing and partnership programs to pathologists and oncologists.
  
• Flatiron Health (New York City, NY): A healthcare technology and services company focused on accelerating cancer research and improving patient care.
  
• PatientPop (Santa Monica, CA): An all-in-one solution that enhances every digital touchpoint of the patient experience.

If you want to stay on top of these HealthTech trends and how they’re influencing innovation, be sure to check out Powderkeg’s new collection of heroic healthcare technology companies.