After landing a big exit for Livongo, Glen Tullman is clearly not done with digital health. In the few months since Teladoc sealed its $18.5 billion acquisition of Livongo, he has sought to take a startup public through a special-purpose acquisition company, founded a new care navigation company, and is now launching a new fund for consumer-focused digital health companies.
The Connected Consumer Fund was recently launched by Chicago-based 7wireVentures, including managing partners Tullman and Lee Shapiro, partners Alyssa Jaffee and Robert Garber, and operating partner David Schonthal. They recently closed $150 million in funding to kick off the new fund.
Shapiro, who served as president of Allscripts before helping launch 7wire, cited an increasingly costly, fragmented healthcare system where the burden is ultimately shifted to consumers as the reason for the fund’s creation. They see an opportunity to use technology to address some of these problems.
“Our newest 7wireVentures fund will allow our firm to grow companies that enable a superior consumer-directed health and care experience and address the problems of healthcare,” he said in a news release.
The new fund has already made two investments. One of them is Transcarent, a startup created by Tullman earlier this year to help employees navigate their benefits, that strikes risk-based agreements with companies. It recently closed a $40 million series A round.
The other is Jasper Health, a New York-based startup working to help guide cancer patients and caregivers through the challenges that arise after diagnosis. The app gives users tools to manage appointments, report symptoms and side effects, and the ability to talk to a care guide.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
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