Category: Biotech & Health

FutureHouse, an Eric Schmidt-backed nonprofit that aims to build an “AI scientist” within the next decade, has released a new tool that it claims can help support “data-driven discovery” in biology. The new tool comes just a week after FutureHouse launched its API and platform. The tool, called Finch, takes in biology data (primarily in the…

NewLimit, founded by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstorng, raises $130M to develop age-reversing treatments

May 6, 2025

NewLimit, a startup that aims to increase how long people can live a healthy life by genetically programming their cells, has raised $130M.

People struggle to get useful health advice from chatbots, study finds

May 5, 2025

With long waiting lists and rising costs in overburdened healthcare systems, many people are turning to AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT for medical self-diagnosis. About 1 in 6 American adults already use chatbots for health advice at least monthly, according to one recent survey. But placing too much trust in chatbots’ outputs can be risky, in…

IXI raises $36.5M from Amazon and more to bring the concept of autofocus to prescription glasses

April 29, 2025

Blink and you’ll miss it: a startup out of Finland is taking a new look at the market for prescription eyewear. Tapping into innovations in eye-tracking and liquid crystal lens technology, IXI is building low-power glasses that will invisibly, automatically adjust to account for Presbyopia (far-sightedness), for the wearer. Four years into its life, Hensinki-based…

Early cancer detection startup Craif raises $22M

April 27, 2025

Cancer ranks as one of the top causes of death worldwide. The National Cancer Institute reported nearly 20 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million cancer-related deaths globally in 2022, with projections showing a rise to 29.9 million new cases by 2040. Craif, spun off from Nagoya University in Japan in 2018, is using microRNA(miRNA)…

Speak at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025: Applications now open

April 24, 2025

TechCrunch Disrupt returns October 27–29 to Moscone West in San Francisco — and we’re inviting thought leaders, founders, VCs, and tech experts to apply for a chance to take the stage at one of the most anticipated tech events of the year. Applications are now open to speak at Disrupt 2025, where over 10,000+ tech…

Superpower wants to help people detect and address health issues before symptoms appear

April 22, 2025

A startup called Superpower is publicly launching what it calls the world’s first super-app that is designed to help people better understand and take care of their health. For $499, the startup offers biannual lab testing that analyzes over 100 blood biomarkers across 21 categories, giving people a more comprehensive look at their health than…

Congress has questions about 23andMe bankruptcy

April 19, 2025

3The leaders of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce said they are investigating how 23andMe’s bankruptcy might affect customers’ data. Representatives Brett Guthrie, Gus Bilirakis, and Gary Palmer (all Republicans) sent a letter Thursday to the genetic testing company’s interim CEO Joe Selsavage asking a number of questions about how 23andMe will handle customer…

Chapter, a Medicare startup with links to Vance, Thiel and Ramaswamy, just raised a round at $1.5B valuation

April 16, 2025

Chapter, a Medicare advisory startup co-founded by former Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, has closed a $75 million funding round at a valuation of $1.5 billion led by private equity and venture firm Stripes. The startup helps seniors choose Medicare health plans analyzing doctors, hospitals, and prescription drug coverage. Unlike many other Medicare insurance brokers,…

Phantom Neuro grabs $19M to help amputees put their phantom limbs to use

April 15, 2025

The science fiction trope of humans superpowered by computer and bionic implants is fast becoming a reality, and today, a startup hoping for a role in how that plays out is announcing some funding. Phantom Neuro, which is developing a wristband-like device that gets implanted under the skin to let a person control prosthetic limbs,…

Cofertility’s radical model for women: Freeze your eggs for free by donating half of them

April 12, 2025

In recent years, focus on career and delayed marriage age is driving some women to consider preserving their fertility through egg freezing. But the steep cost of the procedure, estimated at $10,000 to $15,000 per attempt, means many women can’t afford it during their most fertile years: 20s and early 30s. Cofertility, a startup founded…

Less than a month to get your exhibit table for TechCrunch Sessions: AI

April 11, 2025

TechCrunch Sessions: AI is fast approaching. So, what does that mean for you? It means exhibit tables are nearly gone — and now’s your chance to grab one before they’re all sold out. If you’ve got a game-changing product to showcase to the AI world, don’t keep it quiet. Exhibit your brand in front of…

Cofertility lets women freeze their eggs for free through its donor-matching program

April 10, 2025

The complete agenda for TechCrunch Sessions: AI unveiled

April 9, 2025

It’s been a couple of years since our last topic-focused, one-day event — but with AI transforming the tech landscape, we couldn’t miss the chance to gather 1,200 founders, CEOs, entrepreneurs, investors, and anyone shaping the future of AI for a deep dive into what’s next. On June 5 in Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley,…

Does Colossal Biosciences’ dire wolf creation justify its $10B+ valuation?

April 8, 2025

On Monday, the “de-extinction” startup Colossal Biosciences announced its most ambitious results to date: the dire wolf. These are creatures that have been extinct for more than 12,000 years made famous by the HBO show Game of Thrones. These white, fluffy animals live on a 2,000-acre preserve in a location so secretive that journalists, including…

Want to stay young? Peter Diamandis says survive the next 10 years

April 7, 2025

Peter Diamandis, a futurist with degrees from both MIT and Harvard, has spent much of the past two decades evangelizing a vision of an “abundant future” driven by exponential technologies that will lengthen our lives. The serial entrepreneur and founder of organizations like the XPRIZE Foundation and Singularity University has also cultivated close ties with…

Alphabet’s AI drug discovery platform Isomorphic Labs raises $600M from Thrive

March 31, 2025

Isomorphic Labs, the AI drug discovery platform that was spun out of Google’s DeepMind in 2021, has raised external capital for the first time. The $600 million round was led by Thrive Capital, with participation from GV, and existing investor Google’s parent Alphabet, it said. The funding will accelerate further development of Isomorphic’s AI…

Apple reportedly revamping Health app to add an AI coach

March 30, 2025

Apple is developing a new version of its Health app that includes an AI coach that can advise users on how to get healthier, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Gurman first reported that something like this was in the works back in 2023, but now he says development is moving ahead, with the new features…

Breast pump startup Willow acquires assets of Elvie as UK women’s health pioneer moves into administration

March 28, 2025

Women’s health and its startups building connected breast pumps, period trackers, and other apps and hardware designed for women have collectively pulled in more than $5 billion in funding in the last five years, but the market is tight, and now, two of the trailblazers in the space are coming together as consolidation beckons. Willow,…

YC-backed Taxo raises $5M to slash healthcare admin with its AI ‘reasoning engine’

March 28, 2025

YC-backed startup Taxo has raised a $5m seed round to save doctors time and money on admin work.

UnitedHealth removes mentions of DEI from its website

March 26, 2025

The health insurance giant is the latest to remove references to diversity, equity and inclusion policies amid mounting pressure from the Trump administration.

23andMe files for bankruptcy: How to delete your data

March 25, 2025

23andMe holds millions of customers’ genetic information. Here’s what you can do to protect your data.

Step into the spotlight: Apply to speak at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

March 24, 2025

Calling all tech innovators, startup fanatics, marketing gurus, and emerging VCs — this is your moment! You’ve waited long enough, and now the time has come to step into the spotlight at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, taking place October 27–29 in San Francisco. Share your expertise with over 10,000 eager attendees and make an impact by…

DNA testing company 23andMe files for bankruptcy protection, CEO resigns

March 24, 2025

Genetics testing company 23andMe has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. to initiate the sale of its assets. Alongside the announcement, the company’s co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki separately said she is leaving the company to become an independent bidder for the company. “After a thorough evaluation of strategic alternatives, we have…

Make waves in 2025: Exhibit at TechCrunch events

March 20, 2025

If you’re reading this, you already know: It’s time to amplify your brand. Get in front of thousands of TechCrunch event attendees, readers, and decision-makers who can take your business further this year by exhibiting at a TechCrunch event. The perks of exhibiting: What’s in it for you Exhibiting doesn’t just elevate your brand —…

YC-backed ReactWise is applying AI to speed up drug manufacturing

March 17, 2025

Artificial intelligence continues stirring things up in chemistry. To wit: Y Combinator-backed Cambridge, U.K.-based ReactWise is using AI to speed up chemical manufacturing — a key step in bringing new drugs to market. Once a promising drug has been identified in the lab, pharma firms need to be able to produce much larger amounts of…

Travis Kalanick wants to do a lot more than develop more ghost kitchens

March 17, 2025

Last week, at the Abundance Summit in Los Angeles, billionaire entrepreneur Travis Kalanick gave attendees a rare glimpse into his vision for the future of his newest company, CloudKitchens. While today the eight-year-old L.A.-based outfit is known for a growing real estate portfolio that it uses to it host – and set up – restaurants…

Anti-aging zealot Bryan Johnson wants to start ‘foodome sequencing’

March 13, 2025

In the same way that genome sequencing determines the genetic makeup of an organism, Bryan Johnson — the investor and founder behind the Don’t Die movement – wants to start “foodome” sequencing. “We’re going to sequence the U.S. ‘foodome,’ which means test 20% of foods that constitute 80% of the American diet based on stuff…

Elea AI is chasing the healthcare productivity opportunity by targeting pathology labs’ legacy systems

March 12, 2025

VC funding into AI tools for healthcare was projected to hit $11 billion last year — a headline figure that speaks to the widespread conviction that artificial intelligence will prove transformative in a critical sector. Many startups applying AI in healthcare are seeking to drive efficiencies by automating some of the administration that orbits and…

Virtual physical therapists Hinge Health files for IPO, estimated to raise $500M

March 11, 2025

Hinge Health, a 10-year-old company that offers a digital solution to treat chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, filed to go public. Although Hinge has not yet announced how many shares, nor priced them, the IPO specialists at Renaissance Capital estimate the company hopes to raise up to $500 million in its offering. Hinge’s revenue in 2024…

Junction, an API to link health wearables with labs, raises $18M

March 11, 2025

Medical devices, wearables — we are all familiar with them. But are they linked in any way to the healthcare system and the databases that are supposed to keep us healthy? The answer in most cases is no, they are not. Vital, which is rebranding to “Junction”, provides a single API to integrate wearables and…

Radiology AI software provider Gleamer expands into MRI with two small acquisitions

March 11, 2025

Medical imaging is a broad term that encompasses several distinct technologies. After working on AI-powered tools to enhance X-rays and mammographies, French startup Gleamer now aims to tackle magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Instead of starting from scratch, Gleamer has acquired two startups that have already been working on AI-powered MRI analysis: Pixyl and Caerus Medical.…

Supercharge your brand visibility with an exhibit table at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

March 10, 2025

From October 27-29, TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 will bring together over 10,000 startup pioneers, VC leaders, and tech enthusiasts at Moscone West in San Francisco—the epicenter of innovation set to reshape the future of technology. What’s in it for your startup? A golden opportunity to put your innovation in front of an eager audience for all…

Colossal CEO Ben Lamm says humanity has a ‘moral obligation’ to pursue de-extinction tech

March 9, 2025

The CEO of Colossal, a startup that aims to use genetic editing techniques to bring back extinct species, including the wooly mammoth, assured audiences at SXSW that the company has no plans to create a real-life Jurassic Park — lest there was any doubt. “Modern conservation isn’t working […] and we’re gonna need a ‘de-extinction’…

Not all cancer patients need chemo. Ataraxis AI raised $20M to fix that.

March 5, 2025

From high school science project to $18.3M: AI-accelerated enzymes are coming for fast fashion’s plastic waste

March 5, 2025

A U.K. startup, originating from founder Jacob Nathan’s high school science project on using enzymes to break down plastic waste, has secured an oversubscribed $18.3 million in Series A funding. Founded in 2019 in London, Epoch Biodesign now a 30+ strong multidisciplinary team of chemists, biologists and software engineers. It will be using the new…

On a quest to revive the woolly mammoth, Colossal Biosciences has created a woolly mouse

March 4, 2025

Colossal Biosciences, known for its outlandish goal to resurrect the woolly mammoth by 2028, is claiming steady progress. It’s evidence: Genetically engineering mice to have mammoth-like fur. To engineer the woolly mouse, the company’s scientists found mouse versions of mammoth genes and then used CRISPR to edit mice embryos, Dr. Beth Shapiro, chief science officer…

Startup co-founded by longevity guru Peter Attia emerges from stealth

February 28, 2025

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025: Final 24 hours to save up to $1,130

February 28, 2025

The early bird gets the worm and time is running out! You have less than 24 hours left to save up to $1,130 when purchasing passes to TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. If you want massive savings on Disrupt 2025 individual passes and up to 30% on group tickets, secure your low ticket rate today. These offers…

Stripe finalizes tender sale at a $91.5B valuation, says payment volumes grew to $1.4T in 2024

February 27, 2025

Digital payments platform Stripe has yet to lay out plans to go public, but in the meantime the company has thrown past and present employees a line for some liquidity. The company on Thursday confirmed a tender offer where investors will buy up shares from those employees at a valuation of $91.5 billion. Stripe said…

Maternity clinic Millie nabs $12M Series A from an all-star, all female class of VCs

February 26, 2025

Millie, a California-based maternity clinic, founded by Anu Sharma, announced the raise of a $12 million Series A by investors including RH Capital, TMV, and Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures. Sharma was inspired to launch the company after the birth of her daughter in 2019. She faced pregnancy complications and, as the child of a…

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025: 3 days left to save up to $1,130 on passes

February 26, 2025

Tick-tock! The last three days to save up to $1,130 to TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 are winding down! Get your tickets today for massive savings on Disrupt 2025 individual passes and up to 30% on group tickets. These offers end February 28 at 11:59 p.m. PT, so don’t miss out on major savings of the year.…

University spin-out Afynia secures $5M seed to commercialize its microRNA panel test for endometriosis

February 25, 2025

Canadian biotech startup Afynia Laboratories, a spin-out from McMaster University in Ontario, has picked up $5 million in seed funding to commercialize a blood test for endometriosis — a medical condition that can afflict people with a uterus, causing problems like chronic pelvic pain and fertility issues. Endometriosis affects nearly 200 million people worldwide. Getting…

Holmes and Balwani’s appeal falls flat as court upholds fraud convictions

February 24, 2025

Elizabeth Holmes and Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani’s appeals to overturn their fraud convictions and reduce their prison sentences were denied Monday by the Northern District Court of California, which also refused to soften their $452 million joint restitution order. Holmes, the founder of Theranos, and Balwani, its former COO, were convicted in separate trials in 2022…

How automotive exec Crystal Brown founded CircNova, an AI drug discovery biotech

February 21, 2025

Tiny Michigan biotech startup CircNova has raised a $3.3 million seed round for its technology that uses AI to target so-called “circular RNA.” The development holds promise as a new method to quickly develop therapies for conditions that currently have no drug treatments. The new funding is also a victory lap for co-founder and CEO…

Apply to Speak at TechCrunch Sessions: AI before the deadline

February 21, 2025

AI Innovators, seize your moment! Have insights that could inspire 1,200 AI founders, investors, and enthusiasts eager to advance the future of AI? Take center stage, influence the AI conversation, and exchange ideas at TechCrunch Sessions: AI on June 5 at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. We’re gathering top AI visionaries from the startup world to…

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025: Lowest prices of the year end in 7 days

February 21, 2025

You read that headline correctly! The best deals for TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 tickets are about to end in just 7 days. Save up to $1,130 on individual passes and up to 30% on group tickets. Don’t wait — these offers end on February 28 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Join us in celebrating 20 years of…

Spore.Bio raises $23M to apply machine learning to microbiology testing

February 19, 2025

Recalls in the food and beverage industry due to contamination incidents can have catastrophic effects. Not only do companies have to pay fines and damages, but the impacts on the brand’s reputation can be long-lasting. That’s why Spore.Bio, a Paris-based deeptech startup, is trying to reinvent microbiology testing to avoid the next PR crisis in…

NIH funding uncertainty spurs new biotech venture fund

February 19, 2025

Earlier this month, the Trump administration directed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to impose limits on specific types of funding it provides to research institutions. Although a federal judge has temporarily blocked the policy change, government grants to early-stage biotech startups could still face delays or be eliminated entirely, said Chris Gibson, co-founder and…

Level Zero Health banks $6.9M to prove wearable medtech can take the strain out of hormone testing

February 18, 2025

Level Zero Health, a female-founded medical device startup that’s aiming to break new ground by developing a device for continuous hormone monitoring, has closed an oversubscribed $6.9 million pre-seed funding round despite being only a little over a year old. The startup wants to do away with the need for invasive blood draws and support…

Are your noise-canceling headphones messing with your head?

February 17, 2025

We all know headphones can be bad for your hearing if you listen to sounds too loudly in such close proximity to your ears. But a BBC report suggests that a new health scare could be emerging around the noise-canceling feature that’s hugely popular in modern earphones. The article considers whether the technology could essentially…

US pharma giant Merck backs healthcare marketplace HD in Southeast Asia

February 12, 2025

Big Tech and pharmaceutical companies are accelerating the implementation of artificial intelligence in the healthcare industry. Just last month, AWS and General Catalyst announced their partnership to speed up the development and deployment of healthcare AI tools. GE Healthcare teamed up with AWS to build generative AI for medical use in 2024. Now, a…

Founded by DeepMind alumnus, Latent Labs launches with $50M to make biology programmable

February 12, 2025

A new startup founded by a former Google DeepMind scientist is exiting stealth with $50 million in funding. Latent Labs is building AI foundation models to “make biology programmable,” and it plans to partner with biotech and pharmaceutical companies to generate and optimize proteins. It’s impossible to understand what DeepMind and its ilk are doing…

Elizabeth Holmes says from prison she’s ‘committed’ to ‘making healthcare solutions available to everyone’

February 12, 2025

People magazine has landed the first interview with Elizabeth Holmes since she reported to prison in 2023, and the convicted Theranos founder says she is still working on “research and inventions” in the healthcare space. “I remain completely committed to my dream of making affordable healthcare solutions available to everyone,” she told the magazine. Holmes,…

Google leads $230M convertible note for Boston quantum computing startup QuEra

February 11, 2025

Quantum computing, long relegated to the realm of theoretical, feels like it is back on the agenda as a potentially viable alternative to the expensive race for more powerful compute. On the heels of some notable advancements in quantum chips and error correction (two of the key areas that have kept quantum computers from becoming…

Australian health tech startup Harrison.ai scores $112M Series C

February 11, 2025

Medical imaging is crucial for the timely identification of serious diseases like cancer. However, manual interpretation of scans is a time-intensive process. Healthcare professionals increasingly use AI-powered tools for diagnostic purposes, as such technologies can be very effective in detecting and categorizing diseases. A Sydney, Australia-headquartered startup, Harrison.ai, has built AI-enabled medical diagnostic software and…

TikTok influencers are wearing Apple Watches on their ankles

February 10, 2025

A report from The New York Times over the weekend highlights the small – but apparently growing – trend of users wearing their Apple Watches on their ankles. What’s becoming something of a viral sensation on social platforms like TikTok is the result of a pragmatic decision. Some Apple Watch owners’ wrists are simply too…

Could this startup’s compact nuclear reactors revolutionize cancer detection?

February 6, 2025

As cancer rates in the West, and globally, tack upwards due to lifestyle and environmental pollution, so does the need for the nuclear isotopes used in detecting those cancers in a medical setting. But with many reactors built in the 70s and the 80s scheduled for shut down, the materials used are becoming rarer and…

First lab-grown meat treats go on sale in the UK — for dogs

February 6, 2025

Cultivated chicken doggie snacks have gone on sale at a U.K. pet food retailer, Pets at Home. The retailer also happens to be a major investor in Meatly, the startup producing the meat ingredient contained in dog food brand The Pack’s Chick Bites, as the slaughter-free, low carbon treats are billed. (Other ingredients in the…

Avelios nabs $31M led by Sequoia to fix the ailing world of healthcare IT

February 6, 2025

The race is on to build a new generation of healthcare software to replace legacy hospital systems that in some cases may not have been updated in decades. A startup out of Munich, Germany called Avelios has ambitions to build a new kind of end-to-end administrative system, leaning into more modern tooling using AI and…

Miist, founded by a 25-year-old, wants people to vape their way out of smoking addiction and migraines

February 4, 2025

As a university student, Dalton Signor was troubled by how many people around him smoked or vaped, including his grandmother and 14-year-old sister. Signor (pictured center) felt that existing smoking cessation medicines, whether patches, gums, or lozenges, are not very effective because they take too long to start working. “They take about 30 minutes to…

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025: Secure your ticket at this year’s lowest rates

February 3, 2025

Missed the 2-for-1 deal for TechCrunch Disrupt 2025? No problem! Super Early Bird prices are still available, with savings of up to $1,130 on individual tickets and up to 30% on group passes. These savings are only good until the end of this month. Celebrate 20 years of TechCrunch Disrupt from October 27-29 at Moscone…

Google’s X spins out Heritable Agriculture, a startup using AI to improve crop yield

February 2, 2025

Google’s X “moonshot factory” this week announced its latest graduate. Heritable Agriculture is a data- and machine learning-driven startup aiming to improve how crops are grown. As the firm noted in an announcement post published Tuesday, plants are incredibly efficient and impressive systems. “Plants are solar powered, carbon negative, self-assembling machines that feed on sunlight…

Backed by Mayo Clinic, Nutrix’s hardware monitors worker stress

January 31, 2025

Stress isn’t just bad for you — it’s also bad for your employer. Factoring in absenteeism, diminished productivity, turnover, medical costs, and accidents, the non-profit American Institute of Stress estimates that workplace stress costs U.S. businesses over $300 billion annually. One way to measure stress is by monitoring cortisol levels. Even influencers know this, with…

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025: Last 24 hours for 2-for-1 Pass

January 31, 2025

Final hours for 2-for-1 Passes! One of the best Super Early Bird Deals for TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 will be wrapping up in just 24 hours for the rest of the year. The 2-for-1 Pass lets you bring a friend, colleague, or business partner, for nearly free. Buy one pass at the Super Early Bird rate…

Controversial genetics testing startup Nucleus Genomics raises $14M Series A

January 30, 2025

Reid Hoffman’s Manas AI raises $24.6M, a fraction of other AI drug discovery startups

January 27, 2025

LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and Siddhartha Mukherjee, cancer researcher and author of the book “The Emperor of All Maladies,” have co-founded an AI-powered drug discovery startup, Manas AI. The company, which will initially focus on breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lymphoma, has raised $24.6 million in seed funding from Hoffman, General Catalyst, and Greylock. Manas…

Allara lands $26M to expand women’s hormone telehealth

January 24, 2025

Growing up with an OB-GYN father, Rachel Blank assumed that most women received excellent gynecological care. She regularly witnessed her dad’s patients thanking him for delivering their child when they would bump into him around town. But Blank realized that not all women’s health issues are treated equally when, at the age of 21, she…

Neko, the body-scanning startup co-founded by Spotify’s Daniel Ek, snaps up $260M at a $1.8B valuation

January 23, 2025

Stockholm startup Neko Health has made a big bet on consumers wanting to learn about their state of health and how to prevent things going wrong. Now, investors are making a big bet on Neko. The startup has raised a fresh $260 million in funding, a Series B that values Neko at $1.8 billion post-money,…

Researchers develop a way to power wearables through human skin

January 22, 2025

The dream of battery-free devices has taken an unlikely turn, as Carnegie Mellon researchers debuted Power-Over-Skin. The technology allows for electrical currents to travel through human skin in a bid to power things like blood sugar monitors, pacemakers, and even consumer wearables like smartglasses fitness trackers. Researchers note the tech is still in “early stages.”…

Samsung Unpacked 2025: Google is bringing improved hearing aid features

January 22, 2025

Alongside a slew of announcements tied to Samsung’s Galaxy S25 launch at Samsung Unpacked 2025 on Wednesday, Google announced a pair of accessibility improvements for Android. This includes improvements to the screen reader, along with hearing aid functionality. The hearing aid updates arrive after Google expanded the offering as part of its Android 15 rollout.…

Lindus Health raises $55M to ‘fix the broken clinical trial industry’

January 22, 2025

A four-year-old London startup backed by Peter Thiel has raised a $55 million Series B round as it sets about “fixing the broken clinical trial industry.” The announcement comes as artificial intelligence is shaping up to revolutionize drug discovery and development, in turn spurring demand for a streamlined clinical trial process to help get new…

OpenAI is trying to extend human life, with help from a longevity startup

January 17, 2025

OpenAI says it trained a new AI model called GPT-4b micro with Retro Biosciences, a longevity science startup trying to extend the human lifespan by 10 years, according to the MIT Technology Review. Retro, which is backed by Sam Altman, has been working with OpenAI for roughly a year on this research, according to the…

This MIT spinout wants to spool hair-thin fibers into patients’ brains

January 16, 2025

You can’t start a company without a healthy dose of daring, and that’s certainly the case with NeuroBionics. The MIT-spinout thinks it could one day improve the lives of millions of people who live with neurological conditions like depression, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. Famed investor Steve Jurvetson of Future Ventures said that if everything goes…

Teal Health raises $10M to create at-home cervical cancer screenings

January 16, 2025

The process of getting screened for cervical cancer is quite intimidating. It’s the once-a-year, sometimes life-changing treatment, that involves the bright lights of a doctor’s office and an uncomfortable insertion that always seems to last too long. It’s no wonder why Kara Egan and Dr. Avnesh Thakor saw the potential to make this process more…

Colossal Biosciences raises $200M at $10.2B valuation to bring back woolly mammoths

January 15, 2025

Bioptimus raises $41M to develop a ‘GPT for biology’

January 14, 2025

A fledgling French AI startup has raised $41 million to develop a foundational AI model for biology. Just as OpenAI’s ChatGPT has taken the world by storm for a super-smart generative AI tool capable of natural language conversation in text form, Bioptimus is taking that concept but training its model specifically for downstream biological applications…

More money comes to AI healthcare: Qventus nabs $105M at a $400M+ valuation

January 13, 2025

Healthcare is proving to be one of the more lucrative industries when it comes to building AI solutions to speed up how work is carried out across clinical, research and administrative operations. Today comes one of the latest examples of how that is playing out in terms of venture funding. Qventus, a startup that builds…

UK in-home healthcare provider Cera raises $150M to expand its AI platform

January 12, 2025

Around the world, public healthcare systems have struggled to reset post-pandemic, and in particular, the increasingly aged populations in Western countries are putting pressure on services, not least in the UK where ‘NHS in crisis’ is a regular headline in the media. As a result, private companies, many powered with technology, see a gap in…

These startups are making smarter canes for people with visual impairments

January 10, 2025

The white cane for the 21st century. While many tech companies have increasingly worked to make technology more accessible for the blind and visually impaired, canes haven’t benefitted much from these advances. London-born WeWalk takes a more traditional approach to the white cane. Beyond the bulkier handle, not much sets the company’s product apart visually…

Hippocratic AI raises $141M for creating patient-facing AI agents

January 9, 2025

Hippocratic AI, a startup building AI solutions that can handle non-diagnostic patient-facing tasks, secured a massive $141 million Series B at a valuation of $1.64 billion led by Kleiner Perkins, the company announced Thursday. The funding comes nine months after Hippocratic AI raised a $53 million round from General Catalyst and Andreessen Horowitz and five…

Innovaccer aims to become healthcare’s AI powerhouse with $275M Series F

January 9, 2025

Innovaccer has raised a $275M Series F from investors including B Capital Group, Banner Health, Danaher Ventures, Generation IM, Kaiser Permanente, and M12. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Biosphere zaps germs with UV light to make biomanufacturing cheaper

January 9, 2025

Using LEDs has the potential to bring down the cost of biomanufacturing, allowing such processes to make materials that previously would have been too expensive. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Grove cuts clinical trial enrollment time with AI

January 8, 2025

Tran Le was an engineering student at Stanford University when she tried to enroll in a clinical trial for her chronic condition. Although she identified several promising trials, she found the sign-up process daunting — she had to have extensive email exchanges with clinical sites and complete lengthy 20-page forms. All that paperwork was so…

Healthcare analytics platform H1 has acquired Ribbon, backed by a16Z and General Catalyst

January 8, 2025

H1, a healthcare data analytics platform serving the pharmaceutical industry with data on over 10 million healthcare professionals, has acquired Ribbon, a startup that helps patients find doctors that are supported by their insurance. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. The last time that Ribbon — founded in 2016 and a Y…

Siren secures strategic funding for its socks that detect diabetic foot ulcers

January 8, 2025

After studying burn victims and war veterans, entrepreneur Ran Ma hand-made a sock that contained sensors to detect foot ulcers. Now, her company, Siren, has secured $9.5 million, with an $8 million check from lead investor Mölnlycke Health Care to further the development and adoption of its diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) prevention product. It’s now…

This pool cleaning company made a robot turtle to track water quality

January 7, 2025

Beatbot makes robotic pool cleaners. In fact, the company is showing off a new one with a docking station this week at CES 2025. What really caught our eye on the show floor, however, is RoboTurtle, because, well, it’s a robot that looks like a turtle. The turtle, sadly, seems to very much be in…

Ultrahuman stakes a claim to luxury smart rings with trio of 18K gold and pt950 platinum bands

January 7, 2025

Smart ring maker Ultrahuman took the wraps off a trio of extra shiny high-tech trinkets at CES 2025 on Tuesday, adding a premium jewelry collection to its range of wellness wearables. It’s given the Ring line the brand name Rare, a neat verbal echo of the company’s mainstream smart ring, the Ring Air. The Indian…

Fermata uses computer vision to detect diseases and pests in plants

January 7, 2025

When Valeria Kogan started her Ph.D. program in bioinformatics, the scientific field that uses computation and software to analyze biological data, in 2017, she imagined her career would always be within the fields of mathematics, medicine, or biology. But after the first AI boom in the late 2010s, she got an intriguing opportunity in a…

Withings launches BPM Vision, a $130 home blood pressure monitor, at CES 2025

January 7, 2025

Withings has made a name for itself by making clinical grade health technologies accessible to consumer. This week at CES 2025, the firm revealed two new products that fit the description nicely, one hardware and one software. BPM Vision is the more notable. It’s a travel size home blood pressure monitor, complete with interchangeable arm…

Soliddd is building smart glasses for people with macular degeneration

January 6, 2025

For the past several years, the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center have been lousy with AR/VR/XR smart glasses. While the some of the biggest names in tech, like Apple and Google, have struggled to gain traction in the category, accessible tech remains relatively unexplored. There’s a lot of work to be done in…

Withings’ Omnia is a full-size body-scanning health mirror

January 5, 2025

The Omnia is still very much in concept mode — a phenomenon popular in the automotive world that has since spilled over into consumer electronics. That is to say that Withings’ splashiest product of CES 2025 may never be a product. Among other things, a body-scanning smart mirror would likely be cost prohibitive for consumers.…

Proton’s device aims to help those with kidney disease, and cut heart failure risks

December 24, 2024

People with chronic kidney disease, or those at risk of heart failure, are greatly affected by potassium imbalances in the body. These can even be life-threatening. While wearable glucose monitors are now commonplace and have transformed the lives of diabetes patients, potassium monitoring is in its infancy as it’s hard to do. Now, startups are…

Tetsuwan Scientific is making robotic AI scientists that can run experiments on their own

December 22, 2024

LLM models are already capable of diagnosing scientific outputs, but, until now, had “no physical agency to actually perform” experiments. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

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