Verily raises $300M, WELL Health buys two medical billing startups, judge blocks HHS’ vaccine changes

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  

• WELL Health Technologies, a digital healthcare company focused on positively impacting health outcomes by leveraging technology to empower healthcare practitioners and their patients globally, completed the acquisitions of PatientSERV, a platform for uninsured and third-party medical billing, and Lambert Médico Factures, a medical billing provider
• UNESCO, UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union launched the Charter for Public Digital Learning Platforms – a roadmap to help uphold and expand the right to education, position digital learning platforms as a public good, and strengthen inclusion, equity and resilience in education systems

AI News

• Century Health, a company applying AI to real-world clinical data to accelerate research, and Dallas Renal Group, a nephrology practice, partnered to improve identification and understanding of rare glomerular diseases including IgA nephropathy and C3 glomerulopathy
• Aiva Health, provider of a voice-powered healthcare assistant for patient care, partnered with ServiceNow to bring voice-driven AI directly to the patient bedside and connect it to the full power of enterprise healthcare operations
• Medisolv, a provider of healthcare quality data management, acquired Lilac Software, a provider of AI-driven predictive analytics and Medicare Advantage Stars performance
• The Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute launched the Lally AI Academy, a 30-day AI-augmented experiential sprint that enables student teams from across campus to design, build, and launch fully functional AI-powered products
• The Gulf Coast Business Council partnered with The University of Southern Mississippi to launch the inaugural Executive Leadership Academy: Executives and Artificial Intelligence, a nine-month, executive-level academy designed for senior leaders responsible for integrating artificial intelligence into their organization’s strategy and decision-making
• Carroll Community College announced it will participate in a new Cyber and Artificial Intelligence Clinic initiative as one of three awardees of the Maryland Department of Labor’s latest grant program to strengthen the state’s cyber workforce
• Austin Community College District launched a new initiative to build human-centered and human-first artificial intelligence programs, which includes integrating real-time student data to help identify potential barriers early and connect students more quickly to support services such as advising, tutoring, financial aid, mental health services
• City Colleges of Chicago was selected as a regional lead institution for AWS-Machine Learning University and has established the Midwest AI/Machine Learning Initiative Powered by AWS, bringing the cloud learning environment to faculty and their classrooms at no cost

Really big financings: 

Healthtech:

• Verily, an Alphabet health tech company focused on research, care, and health financing to deliver on the promise of precision health, raised a $300 million investment round led by Series X Capital, with participation from Alphabet, UCHealth, the University of Colorado Anschutz and other investors

Big financings:

Healthtech:

• Turquoise Health, a multi-sided healthcare pricing and payment platform, raised $40 million in a Series C funding round led by Oak HC/FT, with participation from existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Adams Street Partners, and Yosemite
• Conduit Health, a consumer-oriented provider of insurance-covered medical supplies and services for Medicare and Medicaid patients, raised $17 million in a Series A funding round led by Drive Capital, with participation from prior lead investors XYZ Ventures, Twelve Below, Eniac Ventures, and others
• Latent, a clinical-AI company accelerating access to life-saving medications, raised an $80 million Series A co-led by Spark Capital and Transformation Capital, with participation from Conviction, McKesson Ventures, General Catalyst, and Y Combinator
• R1 Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of first-in-class therapies for patients with kidney disease, raised a $77.5 million Series A financing co-led by Abingworth, F-Prime, and DaVita Venture Group, with participation from Curie.Bio, SymBiosis, and U.S. Renal Care
• Crossbow Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing a novel class of potent and precise antibody therapies to treat a broad range of cancers, raised $77 million in a Series B financing co-led by Taiho Ventures and Arkin Bio Capital, with participation from new investors Sixty Degree Capital, Hamilton Square Partners Management LP, LifeLink Ventures, Libbs Ventures, and Blood Cancer United’s Therapy Acceleration Program, as well as existing investors MPM BioImpact, Pfizer Ventures, BVF Partners, Polaris Partners, Eli Lilly and Company, and Mirae Asset Venture Investment
• Excalipoint Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing next-generation T-cell engager therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases, raised an $68.7 million seed financing round frm HSG, Apricot Capital, and Yuanbio Venture Capital, 5Y Capital, Co-Win Ventures, Med-Fine Capital, Hony Capital, MPCi, Centurium Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures and Eisai Innovation
• Unnatural Products, a biotech developing orally-delivered macrocyclic peptides to address previously undruggable targets, raised a $45 million Series B financing led by The Venture Collective, with participation from argenx, Droia Ventures and existing investors Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Artis Ventures, and First Spark Ventures
• Mestag Therapeutics, a biotech company harnessing fibroblast immunology to develop impactful treatments for patients with cancer and inflammatory diseases, raised a $40 million financing from SV Health Investors, Johnson & Johnson, GV, and Northpond Ventures
• Lantern, a specialty care platform connecting people with health plan members for surgeries and cancer treatment, raised $30 million from Morgan Health, along with Echo Health Ventures
• Nadia Care, a maternal health company, raised $12 million funding round led by Valtruis and a major national payer, with participation from other investors including First Trust Capital Partners and RH Capital
• Flexzo AI, a London, a provider of an agentic AI workforce system for healthcare providers, raised $12 million in a Series A funding round led by Octopus Ventures, with participation from Fuel Ventures

Not so big financings:

Healthtech:

• Health Universe, an enterprise AI platform that automates complex healthcare workflows, raised $6 million in seed funding led by Kleiner Perkins
• HEARTio, an artificial intelligence healthcare diagnostics company, raised $4.25 million in seed financing with participation from Intelligence Ventures, Audacious Capital, VU Venture Partners, LifeX, Bessel, and others
• iDEL Therapeutics, a cancer therapeutics company, raised a €9 million seed financing led by BiomedVC with participation from NRW.Venture, Gründerfonds Ruhr and the KHAN Technology Transfer Fund II
• Surf Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company developing non-invasive ultrasound neuromodulation therapies, raised $6 million in a seed round that included participation from SOSV, VVP Ignite, TMC Venture Fund, General Inception, Elderberry Ventures, Evoce Capital and others, along with other angel investors like Mir Imran
• Understood Care, an AI-native patient advocacy platform, raised $8.4 million in funding, including a $5 million seed round led by Rethink Education and Zeal Capital Partners, and $3.4 million in pre-seed funding led by 1984 Ventures, with participation from Ycombinator
• Entourage AI, a longevity and healthspan focused data company, raised a $5 million pre-seed round led by Provision, with investment also coming from GU Holdings Ltd, healthtech investors David Peterson and Brad Peltz, and other angel investors
• Sequential, a provider of genomic testing from non-invasive human clinical samples, raised $3.5 million round co-led by Sparkfood and Corundum Systems Biology, with participation from Dermazone Holdings, SOSV, Scrum Ventures, an ex-General Partner at Index Ventures, alongside continued support from Innovate UK
• Mave Health, which provides digital mental healthcare services focused on therapy, psychiatric support, and structured care programs, raised $2.1 million in seed funding led by Blume Ventures with participation from other funds and angel investors, including Stanford Angels, Dhaval Shroff, and Raymond Russell
• CiaoDott, a voice artificial intelligence for the Italian medical sector, raised €1.5 million in a round led by The Techshop, with participation from co-investors such as Vento, Club degli Investitori, Growth Engine and Alpha Venture
• Health Lean Analytics, a developer of an AI-driven hospital data automation platform, raised €2.1 million in a funding round from family offices including Inderhabs, Namarel, and Braincats, complemented by a loan from the Spanish National Innovation Company

Edtech:

• Chalkie, an AI-powered, innovative education technology platform built to support teachers with curriculum-aligned lessons, raised a $4 million funding round from TriplePoint Ventures
• Kodree, a coding and tech upskilling platform developed by Rist Labs, raised $10 million financing from PvX Partners

Going public

• UBERDOC Health Technologies Corp, a healthcare platform empowering patients to connect with top physicians instantly, began trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the ticker symbol APPT

Policy and government

• A federal judge temporarily blocked federal health officials from cutting the number of vaccines recommended for every child, and said U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. likely violated federal procedures in revamping a key vaccine advisory committee. The decision halts an order by Kennedy — announced in January — to end broad recommendations for all children to be vaccinated against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV
• The U.S. Education Department is handing off a portion of its student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department, a first step toward shedding management of all student loans as Trump administration officials dismantle the federal education agency. Under the agreement, the Treasury Department will take over management of student loans whose borrowers are in default, meaning they are months behind on payments. Those loans add up to about $180 billion, or 11% of the government’s $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio

Random news

• A high school teacher nearly triggered a lockdown because of a pair of feet: Alissa, a history teacher who posts on TikTok under the name @teachinginstyle, recounted in a video that she recently looked out the window of her high school classroom and noticed a pair of bare feet hanging from a school bench. Wondering whether it was a student and if they were okay, she headed outside to investigate, only to find an unfamiliar adult asleep on the bench. Immediately frightened, she recalled, “Three things come to mind. One: Are they alive? Two: Why is there a random adult on campus? And three: Oh my God, are we going to have to go on lockdown?”  Alissa locked her classroom door and called the safety number, describing the situation over the phone. It turns out the feet belonged to a substitute teacher. She concluded, “It was a sub—a substitute teacher—taking a nap on the bench, like wanting to get some sun on the dogs (their bare feet). Oops. How was I supposed to know that?”