Hemant Taneja

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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Omada Health, which went public three months ago, just released promising results: more than 60% of its members maintained weight loss after discontinuing GLP-1 therapy. I wrote down a few thoughts. 1️⃣ 𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐈𝐏𝐎𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐡 Over 90% of HealthTech companies (including TechBio) that went public have significantly underperformed. Halle Tecco analyzed 23 digital health SPACs (around 40% of all HealthTech public listings went through SPACs). Her findings: ▪️30% declared bankruptcy ▪️26% were acquired at steep losses ▪️90% of those still trading have lost double-digit value since debut But now, it seems this dynamic may finally be shifting. 2️⃣ 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐬, 𝐖𝐚𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫, 𝐇𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞, 𝐎𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐚 = 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐬 As of September 9, 2025, their market capitalizations were: Tempus AI = $14B Waystar = $7B Hinge Health = $4.5B Omada Health = $1.4B For comparison: Philips, the leading MedTech, has a market cap of $23B. Tempus is going straight after Philips. 3️⃣ 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 Last year, Hinge Health launched its Strategic Solutions Alliance, which now includes 13 partners whose solutions can be distributed directly to Hinge Health’s member base. This is a more generic pattern: once a HealthTech has gained a strong installed base through its point solution, it becomes a curated marketplace. 4️⃣ 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 Tempus AI secured the first AI-only CPT reimbursement code in the US (October 2024). It also acquired Page AI, a leader in digital pathology. After oncology, Tempus aims to expand into cardiology, neurology, and psychiatry. 5️⃣ 𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐏𝐎𝐬: 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐌&𝐀 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 HealthEdge, a CareOps player, was acquired by Bain Capital for $2.6B (May 2025) Arcadia, a #healthcare analytics company, was acquired by Nordic Capital for an undisclosed sum (June 2025) Iodine Software (AI-powered healthcare payments) was acquired by Waystar (July 2025) Some HealthTech companies are now mature enough for private equity, while winners like Waystar are consolidating the market. 6️⃣ 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 = 𝟎 𝐈𝐏𝐎 While the US (and China) already count dozens of HealthTech #IPOs, Europe has had none. Doctolib could be the first next year… or perhaps Alan. --------- This analysis was made possible by the HealthTech Alpha platform from Galen Growth | Redefining Digital Health Intelligence. Join the Healthcare Business International conference in March 2026 in Paris for more M&A in Healthcare Innovation discussions! Follow HGM Advisory for daily reposts of the most relevant #HealthTech news.

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Very excited to announce our investment in Charta Health today! At Madrona, we believe the most impactful AI companies don’t just speed up existing workflows — they reimagine them from first principles. Charta Health is building an AI-native platform that transforms chart review from a labor-intensive, error-prone process into a real-time intelligence layer — improving care quality, billing accuracy, and provider efficiency. Karan Mehandru and I have had the pleasure of getting to know founders Justin Liu, Scott Morris over the last couple of years and we’re thrilled to be partnering with them and the entire Charta team — alongside Bain Capital Ventures, SV Angel, Refract Ventures, and South Park Commons! More on why we invested below! 👇 https://lnkd.in/druSN-Na

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