Northwell Health partners with K Health, Function raised $298M, Sofinnova Partners launches new biotech fund

Healthtech and edtech are two of the fastest growing sectors, with the healthtech market size to reach $3.1 billion by 2033, while the global education technology market size is projected to reach $348.41 billion by 2030.

Each week will do a roundup of the top news, fundings, and IPOs from these two sectors.

Top News  

• Northwell Health and K Health announced a joint collaboration to transform the delivery of primary care services across New York. Northwell Primary Care Now will allow patients to make same-day appointments with Northwell clinicians and will be fully integrated within Northwell, ensuring that care provided by primary care physicians is connected to the care patients receive across all Northwell Health facilities and services
• Google introduced Scholar Labs, an AI powered Scholar search that is designed to help users answer detailed research questions. It analyzes your question to identify its key topics, aspects and relationships. It then searches for all of them on Scholar, and evaluates the results to identify papers that answer the overall research question. For each paper, it explains how the paper answers questions

AI News

• RapidAI, developer of Deep Clinical AI and intelligent imaging and workflow integration, partnered with Saudi Health Holdings Company, and will serve as HHC’s enterprise provider of deep clinical AI across its 20 health clusters network of hospitals and clinics
• RadNet, a provider of diagnostic imaging services and digital health solutions, acquired CIMAR UK, a provider of cloud-native healthcare image management solutions
• Georgia State University partnered with Google to establish The AI Innovation Lab, designed to expand access to computer science and AI education for more students in the local community
• The Harvey Law School Program, which partners with top law schools to embed generative AI in legal education and professional training, expanded to the United Kingdom through partnerships with Oxford University Faculty of Law, The University of Law, The Dickson Poon School of Law at King’s College London and BPP University Law School
• Purdue University and Google partnered to accelerate AI research while preparing the next generation of students to tackle society’s most pressing challenges
• Columbia University Athletics partnered with Cache AI, a company involved in athlete analytics and Name, Image, and Likeness technology to launch with a pilot program involving the Columbia men’s and women’s basketball teams, leveraging Cache AI’s artificial intelligence platform to help student-athletes understand, measure and maximize their personal brand value
• voize, a company building the AI companion redefining nursing care, raised $50 million in Series A funding led by Balderton Capital, with participation from existing investors HV Capital, Redalpine and Y Combinator

Late Stage Fundings:

Healthtech:

• Function, a platform making lab testing, advanced MRI and CT scans, and longitudinal health data accessible and understandable, raised a $298 million oversubscribed Series B led by Redpoint Ventures, along with NFDG, a16z, Aglaé Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Allen Crabbe, Anthony Wood, Battery Ventures, Blake & Taylor Griffin, Breanna Stewart, BroadLight Capital, Caleb Williams, Claire Hughes Johnson, Diana Taurasi, Dylan Efron, Elaine Welteroth, FirstMark, Founders Circle Capital, Founders Future, Weekend Fund, J Balvin, Jimmy Rollins, Joel Embiid, Kelsey Plum, HartBeat Ventures, Madisen Skinner, Magic Johnson, Malik Monk, Matt Damon, Maya Moore, Menlo Ventures, Motley Fool Ventures, Nneka Ogwumike, Redpoint Ventures, R3hab, QuantumLight, Richard Sherman, RX3 Growth Partners, Ryan Murphy, Samsung Next, Seedcamp, Rahul Vohra, Taijuan Walker, Vanderbilt University, Wisdom VC, Wisdom Ventures, and Zac Efron
• Distalmotion, developer of a soft tissue robotic surgery system, raised a $150 million Series G funding round led by Revival Healthcare Capital, with participation from inside investors
• Solve Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing antibody-drug conjugates for solid tumor malignancies, raised $120 million in a round led by Yosemite, with participation from Abingworth, Ally Bridge Group, B Capital, Balyasny Asset Management, Merck & Co., and SymBiosis, and existing investors Alexandria Venture Investments, AyurMaya Capital Management, DC Global Ventures, General Atlantic, and Surveyor Capital
• Freenome, an early cancer detection company developing blood-based screening tests, raised $75 million from Roche
• Okami Medical, a medical technology company pioneering novel vascular embolization solutions, raised a $45 million round led by new investor Gilde Healthcare with participation from existing investors including Vensana Capital and U.S. Venture Partners

Early Stage Fundings  

Healthtech:

• Lumia, developer of an ear wearable used by long COVID-19 and POTS patients, raised $7 million from J2 Ventures, BonAngels Venture Partners, and angel investors
• GoTu Technology, a dental talent marketplace, raised a $45 million growth investment led by Long Ridge Equity Partners, with participation from JPMorgan Chase & Co
• Lifordi Immunotherapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company developing antibody-drug conjugates for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, raised $112 million from Sanofi Ventures, the venture arm of global healthcare leader Sanofi, and funding from existing investors ARCH Ventures, 5AM Ventures, and Atlas Venture
• Angiex, a developer of Nuclear-Delivered Antibody-Drug Conjugate therapies for solid cancers, raised $31 million, with participation from new and existing investors
• Perelel, a supplement company for women, raised a $27 million investment from Prelude Growth Partners including participation from existing investors Unilever Ventures, Willow Growth Partners and Selva Ventures
• Captain T Cell, a biotechnology company developing next-generation TCR-T cell therapies for solid tumors, raised a €20 million round led by Springboard Health Angels and Pluton Asset Holding AG, joined by Sintra Limited and Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen, as well as existing investors i&i Biotech Fund, HIL-INVENT and Brandenburg Kapital
• Revian, a provider of light therapy for hair regrowth, raised up to $13 million, in gross proceeds, in financing led by Flashpoint
• WellBeam, a company dedicated to improving clinical care management between acute and post-acute parties through seamless interoperability and electronic medical record integration, raised $10 million in a Series A round led by Wittington Ventures and includes participation from F-Prime, Advocate Health, and Oncology Ventures
• FamilyWell Health, an integrated women’s mental health company, raised $8 million in Series A financing led by New Markets Venture Partners, with participation from existing and new investors – .406 Ventures, GreyMatter Capital, The Alix Foundation, The Donna Fund, and The Lee Foundation
• Skeletalis, a drug development company focused on the next generation of therapies for treating musculoskeletal diseases, raised $8 million in a round led by Pillar VC, with support from KdT Ventures, age1, and Slocum Management

Edtech:

• Codeyoung, which offers live, one-on-one online classes in coding, math, English, science, SAT, and AP courses for students aged 5 to 17, raised $5 million in a series A round led by 12 Flags Group and Enzia Ventures

Seed Fundings  

Healthtech:

• Ember, an AI-native solution for healthcare denial prevention, raised a $4.3M seed funding round with investors including Nexus Venture Partners and Y Combinator participating
• Manta Cares, a digital health platform built to simplify and structure the cancer care journey for patients and caregivers, raised $5.4M in seed funding led by Pear VC and Sozo Ventures, with participation from 1843 Capital and strategic angels including Dr. Stanley Marks
• Cellbyte, an AI-native platform that helps pharma companies accelerate drug launches, raised a $2.75 million seed round lled by Frontline Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator, Pace Ventures, Saras Capital and Springboard Health Angels
• Risa Labs, an AI-powered workflow automation company in oncology, raised a $3.5 million seed round led by Binny Bansal (Flipkart co-founder) with participation from Oncology Ventures, General Catalyst, z21 Ventures, ODD BIRD VC, and Ashish Gupta
• No Barrier, a provider of AI-powered medical translation redefining language access in healthcare, raised a $2.7 million seed round led by A-Squared Ventures, Esplanade Ventures, Rock Health Capital, and Fusion
• Earflo, a medical technology company developing a non-invasive, at-home treatment for negative middle ear pressure in children as young as two, raised $415,000 from the Richard King Mellon Foundation
• Arbiter, which wants to end healthcare fragmentation by uniting payers, providers, and patients on an AI-powered care orchestration platform, raised $52 million in a round led by TriEdge Investments and MFO Ventures, together with WindRose Health Investors and others
• Mirantus Health, which creates additional low-threshold points of contact and helps to reduce waiting times and relieve the burden on ophthalmologic practices, raised €5.5 million from Revent, Redstone, Entrepreneur First, Noaber, Arve Capital, Kai Eberhardt, and Katharina Jünger
• Duality Healthcare, the operator of private health clinics, which provide GP services and diagnostic care, raised a £4.5m funding round from undisclosed investors
• AI-Stroke, a startup developing an “AI neurologist” to accelerate pre-hospital stroke triage, raised a $4.6 million seed round led by Heka, with participation from angel investors and Bpifrance
• Thrivory, a healthcare AI company that helps providers eliminate reimbursement delays through instant, non-recourse claims settlement, raised $3.5 million in equity and up to $25 million in credit funding, led by Redesign Health, alongside an accordion credit facility anchored by Trinity Capital

Edtech:

• Teacher’s Buddy, a startup that lightens the administrative load and supports ongoing professional development for teachers, as well as analysing data to improve student outcomes, raised $1.85 million in seed funding in a round led by Giant Leap, supported by Flying Fox Ventures, Co Ventures, Exhort Ventures, Saniel Ventures and Soul Capital
• Sencillo, a FinTech start-up focused on modernising education financing for families, raised over £350,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by Fuel Ventures and supported by a group of strategic angel investors and senior industry executives

Fund News

• Sofinnova Partners, a European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London, and Milan, closed its latest flagship fund, Sofinnova Capital XI, at €650 million ($750 million) to back a new generation of pioneering biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies addressing urgent unmet clinical needs
• The Portuguese venture capital company Lince Capital launched a €20 million fund to invest in healthtech startups.

Policy and government

• The Department of Education released a detailed outline of seven funding priorities under its Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education program for FY2025, signaling a push to align higher education with emerging technologies and workforce demands. The plan allocates a combined $167 million across four policy areas: the use of artificial intelligence in education, accreditation reform, and high-quality short-term academic programs. Funding awards are expected to be announced by December 31, 2025
• A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage that once stated unequivocally that vaccines do not cause autism has been rewritten, now suggesting without evidence that health authorities “ignored” possible links between the shots and autism. “The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism,” the new language states. Pediatricians and vaccine experts have long said that autism is among the most studied childhood conditions and that no credible research has ever suggested a link between it and vaccines

Random news

• Having a root canal can drive health benefits that are felt throughout the body, according to research. Patients who were successfully treated for root canal infections saw their blood sugar levels fall significantly over two years, suggesting that ridding the body of the problematic bacteria could help protect against type 2 diabetes.  Dentists also saw improvements in patients’ blood cholesterol and fatty acid levels, both of which are associated with heart health. Yet more benefits were seen around inflammation, a driver for cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions