Hayal Koc

I’m thrilled to announce defy.vc’s investment in Birches Health as part of their $20M combined Seed and Series A funding round, alongside incredible partners like AlleyCorp, General Catalyst, Will Ventures, and others. As someone deeply passionate about backing companies that tackle important problems for our society, I couldn’t be more excited about what Birches is building—a national virtual clinic dedicated to treating gambling addiction and related behavioral disorders like gaming, sex, porn, and internet addictions. What excites me most is Birches’ innovative health assurance model: proactive, accessible, and affordable care that’s evidence-based and delivered right at home. With the explosion of legal sports betting—think nearly $1.5 billion wagered on this year’s Super Bowl alone—we’re staring down a looming public health emergency. Traditional options like hotlines or generic therapy fall short for this high-acuity issue, but Birches changes that by offering specialized therapy from trained clinicians, multimodal treatment, and peer support, all covered by major insurers like United Healthcare, Cigna, Aetna, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. It’s available in all 50 states, breaking down geographical and financial barriers that have left so many without help. The impact is already profound: 96% of patients report an improved quality of life, and 94% give Birches a 5/5 rating. By partnering with state governments, payors, and policymakers, Birches is pushing gambling addiction into the spotlight of behavioral health conversations, where it’s been neglected for too long—often leading to shame, worsened outcomes, and higher suicidality risks. This funding will supercharge their growth: expanding the provider network, boosting clinical excellence, scaling infrastructure, and deepening insurance and state partnerships to meet surging demand. Very excited to partner with Elliott Rapaport and the entire Birches team! See more about our POV in the blog post linked in the comments. #GamblingAddiction #BehavioralHealth #HealthTech #VentureCapital #Innovation

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Plural exists to invest in startups solving the hardest problems out there, and one of those is how to look after our sick and elderly as populations age, rates of chronic disease rise and the cost of global healthcare grows each year. That’s why we’re doubling down and leading a $20m Series A for Teton, which is building world-class technology for a sector that has seen barely any disruption, even in the face of a growing labour shortage. Teton’s technology automates routine checks on wards, combining specialised cameras with computer vision AI models that continuously monitor patients around the clock and alert nurses when someone needs attention. This system reduces menial work, allowing healthcare workers to spend more time on what they are best at: the human job of attending to patients in need of help, leading to happier staff who are less likely to experience burnout. The technology also shifts care from reactive to preventative, meaning better health outcomes for patients and residents. As an example, implementing Teton reduces falls - the leading cause of injury-related death in adults aged 65 or over - by 82%. The end result is a product that replaces one-off patient spot checks with more detailed ongoing assessment, improves patient outcomes and reduces resource for healthcare providers. This means that in a sector with a serious labour shortage, providers can safely look after people with a smaller number of nurses. For patients, that has the benefit of lowering the overall cost to access the very best care. Co-founders Mikkel Wad Thorsen and Esben Thorius spent more than 100 nights in hospitals to see how healthcare professionals can be helped best by technology, and the value they’re creating speaks for itself: Teton is now live in five countries across 35 care providers. Read more about why we invested in Teton here: https://lnkd.in/gwdcCczx With coverage in Reuters here: https://lnkd.in/g_eqiyex

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I've always admired founders and leaders who build for the future. Alexandre de Vigan, the CEO of Nfinite (www.nfinite.app), is one of them. His story is fascinating: from a frustrated M&A attorney to a founder who built a company that is now solving one of AI’s biggest challenges. Nfinite is a super exciting Physical AI tech startup because they're building the data foundation for a new era of intelligent systems. Their initial e-commerce success, which created photorealistic 3D product visuals with a reported 77% cost reduction, wasn't just a business model—it was a data-gathering machine. They have amassed one of the world's largest libraries of 3D data, which is now being used to train AI models for robotics, autonomous vehicles, and AR/VR. It's a powerful lesson in seeing an opportunity where others see a problem, and it's a perfect example of a company that is both deep in its initial market and broad in its future vision.

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What is the true cost of a technology solution for an asset manager? In the latest Alt Goes Mainstream podcast, Arcesium MD and Head of Client & Partner Development David Nable discusses how private markets technology infrastructure is being architected for the future and how operations and streamlining technology processes can be turned into a strategic advantage for asset managers. David and I had a fascinating conversation. We covered: ➡️ How David’s background in prime brokerage and fund admin helped him approach the technology problems for asset managers. ➡️ How asset managers should approach where and how technology can be a strategic advantage. ➡️ What does it mean to be a tech-forward asset manager? ➡️ How does the growth of evergreen funds impact how firms manage their data and serve investors? ➡️ What still needs to be built next to continue to improve private markets market infrastructure. Thanks David Nable for sharing your experience and wisdom on private markets and market infrastructure. Thanks Ultimus Fund Solutions for your support of Alt Goes Mainstream. https://lnkd.in/eshC3AFJ

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John Chambers’ ability to anticipate change and act with conviction continues to set the standard for visionary leadership. In his recent The Wall Street Journal interview with Marc Vartabedian, he shared a clear view of today’s venture landscape, one shaped by both disruption and opportunity. At Uniphore, we share John’s perspective that AI is the defining technology of our time, driving transformation across industries and fundamentally reshaping how businesses operate and succeed. Business AI sits at the top of the sphere of this transformative impact, shaping how we work, how societies function, how economies grow, and how businesses are built. To win in Business AI, it’s not just about predicting the future; it’s about having the conviction to move toward it with purpose. #BusinessAI https://shorturl.at/nDARz

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Good piece for Entrepreneur by my Volition Capital colleague, Tiger Henderson. We often see companies that have built their business on a single platform like Amazon, Shopify, Salesforce. Tiger walks through the key questions we ask on evaluating that risk: 1. Are incentives aligned with the underlying platform? 2. Who owns the end-user relationship? 3. Does the product embed itself deeply in workflows, or just sit on a feature layer? 4. Does the underlying platform have a history of developing its 3rd party ecosystem? 5. Does the CEO have a defined strategy to derisk the business over time? You can read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/epWhpcsd

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