Elan Dekel

Excited to announce Frist Cressey Ventures' investment in Qualified Health and privileged to partner w/ SignalFire, Healthier Capital, Town Hall Ventures and others!   Healthcare costs are increasing at a faster rate than ever before, with the US spending nearly twice as other wealthy countries and still ranking bottom in outcomes. It's a story you've all heard - - US healthcare is known for astronomical inefficiencies, waste, workforce supply constraints, fragmented access, appalling patient experiences, and driving patients and businesses into debt.   Yes these problems present opportunities. But opportunities are limited to the system's appetite for change, desire and incentive to try something new and the innovation available. At FCV we believe we've hit the trifecta with Generative AI. Generative AI has given us truly transformational tools in the toolkit and the healthcare ecosystem is demanding to absorb its benefits. This perfect collision of supply and demand means healthcare is poised for big change.   Generative AI is everywhere, it's buzzy, it dangles hope and opportunity. But many things need to be true for the Gen AI transformation in healthcare to take hold, such as but not limited to:   💡 Patient lives and data need to remain safe: We believe in a highly regulated and human life-touching sector such as healthcare we must ensure Gen AI can drive to unrivalled savings and improvements in the quality of care WHILE not putting patient lives or data at risk.   💡 Systems need to own their utilization of Gen AI: We believe systems will use some hybrid of external partners and homegrown solutions but importantly will want full control of data provisioning and utilization as well as the ability to solve an unlimited number of nuanced issues and not cookie cutter algorithms.   💡 Costs need to be looked at on an enterprise level: We believe the speed of innovation in Gen AI means costs will continue decreasing dramatically but at an enterprise level this will still not be a small detail. Systems will want the ability to understand costs and delegate as needed for the outcomes desired at the organizational level.   Enter Qualified.   We knew when we met Justin Norden, MD, MBA, MPhil and team we were standing in front of changemakers. These individuals have lived and breathed the true application and implementation of Generative AI far before we were asking ChatGPT to write our emails. In fact, if you’ve ever driven in a Waymo you’ve benefited from past products this team has built.   Qualified Health is on a mission to enforce governance in Gen AI, allow systems to rapidly build for their needs, monitor and make decisions for all GenAI (homegrown and external) and accelerate the value the sector can glean from these new technologies.   Huge shout out to William T., Tommaso Auerbach and Jamie Kuntz for their hard work!

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#Longevity Tech is on the rise ✌️ -Endeavor BioMedicines raised $135M at a $795M valuation in April 2024. -Humanaut Health secured an $8.7M Seed round, valued at $52M in May. -Superpower raised $4M, reaching a $24M valuation in May as well. These are just 3 of the 90+ #longevity startups highlighted in Dealroom.co's latest report (Link in the comments). In this newsletter, I dive into the Longevity Technology Market and the emerging trends shaping the future of health! 👉 https://lnkd.in/e3EZrAPH #Longevity #HealthTech #StartupFunding #Innovation

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AI is revolutionizing healthcare, and SoftBank Group Corp.'s latest move proves it. The tech giant's joint venture with Tempus in Japan aims to tackle cancer using AI-powered personalized medicine. SB Tempus plans to analyze genomic and clinical data to provide tailored treatment suggestions. What's striking is that only 1% of Japanese patients have had genomic testing, compared to 30% in the US. I think this venture could dramatically improve access to cutting-edge care. Masayoshi Son's vision of AI being 10,000 times smarter than humans in a decade might sound far-fetched, but initiatives like this show real-world applications. It's not just about cancer either they're eyeing expansion into neuropsychology, radiology, and cardiology. I'm cautiously optimistic about AI in healthcare. While it promises groundbreaking advancements, we must ensure patient privacy and ethical use of data. If SB Tempus can navigate these challenges, it could be a game changer for personalized medicine in Japan and beyond.

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Open-source models can be a strong lever for increasing gross margins at AI companies, especially those that have hefty cost structures (e.g., enterprise sales orgs that require significant customer success or implementation resources, as well forward-deployed AI services models common in healthcare and life sciences). One of many reasons to maintain a modular and flexible stack with minimal dependencies when building an AI company. More on the importance of flexibility in the AI stack: https://lnkd.in/eA2XATRk h/t Delip Rao #ai #artificialintelligence #generativeai #healthcare

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Reimagining Healthcare Workforce Platfforms: Turning Capital Into Labor The future isn’t just about filling shifts. It’s about scaling labor intelligently, driving better outcomes for systems, staff, and patients alike. Andreessen Horowitz and Alastair (Alex) Rampell reinforced this Vision in a recent post and it applies to the next phase of healthcare workforce evolution. Healthcare workforce marketplaces plus AI are at the tipping point of transformation, evolving into systems of record that don’t just manage labor—they optimize it. Much like EHRs centralized patient care data, these marketplaces can centralize workforce operations, aligning talent supply with clinical demand. But there’s a bigger opportunity here: turning capital into labor. Here’s what I mean. Historically, industries (including healthcare) have focused on enterprise computing tasks—streamlining data entry, compliance, and back-office functions. While valuable, this approach often stops short of transforming the real-world, repetitive processes that make up the bulk of work in healthcare. Think beyond enterprise software. The next frontier lies in leveraging embodied AI and workforce marketplaces to automate and enhance labor-driven processes, transforming capital investments into productive labor outputs. For healthcare, this means turning staffing costs into scalable, dynamic systems that deliver value far beyond filling shifts: 1. Dynamic Labor Matching: Capital invested in marketplace platforms enables real-time matching of labor supply with patient demand, replacing outdated scheduling models with predictive, automated systems. 2. Workflow Automation: From credentialing to compliance and shift bidding, embodied AI can streamline traditionally manual tasks, freeing human resources for higher-value work. 3. Labor as a Strategic Asset: Workforce marketplaces shift the focus from static staffing budgets to proactive labor deployment, ensuring that every dollar invested in labor drives outcomes and efficiency. It is about the billions of repetitive, planned tasks that AI can improve. In healthcare, that means automating everything from staffing logistics to clinical task assignments, creating a horizontal system of engagement for labor (think Zendesk) that integrates seamlessly with vertical, workflow-specific platforms (think Toast for staffing operations). The result? Hundreds of billions in untapped market potential—and a healthcare workforce model that transforms how care is delivered. By turning capital into labor through smarter marketplaces and automation, we don’t just solve staffing challenges; we redefine what’s possible in healthcare operations and ShiftMed is leading the way with health systems moving beyond tired models. #capitalintolabor #systemsofrecord #healthworkforce #aiworkforce #healthsystems #hospitals #cno #hospitalceo #healthcareinnovation

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Instacart is a market leader when it comes to leveraging AI tools to boost productivity at work. I had an amazing conversation with JJ Zhuang, Instacart’s Chief Architect, who has shepherded over 50 AI-driven initiatives to market across the org. We explored what catapulted Instacart to the forefront of AI integration, supporting radically diverse use cases across various functional areas. One striking insight (echoed by Ethan Mollick and others elsewhere) is that you often don't need specialized tools for specialized work. Frontier models like GPT-4 can seamlessly adapt to a wide range of functions and use cases. They're not just for engineers; they're incredibly versatile tools used by marketing, comms, and legal teams. From generating code to proofreading and ideation, GPT-4 empowers every department to leverage AI for enhanced productivity and innovation. By integrating LLM’s like GPT-4 into their workflows, teams can streamline processes, automate repetitive tasks, and unlock bandwidth for new creative possibilities. How can you harness the power of AI in your own work to boost productivity? Share your thoughts below 👇 Want to hear more insights from JJ? Check out the full podcast episode by clicking the link in the comments.

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One of my proudest moments as an investor occurred today as Alaffia Health announced its series A because it shows how the Aperture® Venture Capital vision of multi-level, multi-generational #impactinvesting is succeeding in the marketplace. Here’s the model in its most basic form : ✅As diverse fund managers with meaningful capital to allocate, we are changing the VC landscape every day just by doing our day jobs. ✅As Black/Brown investors with ~40 years experience collectively, Aperture GPs have access to talent /excellence that others do not, so our portfolio *organically* is more inclusive by race, gender and geography even while optimizing for financial outcomes (all about the alpha). ✅Our most successful portco’s are using financial #innovation to solve market problems that impact underrepresented demographics and underserved communities. Alaffia Health is a shining example of the impact portion of our overall fund thesis, and we couldn’t be prouder of TJ Ademiluyi and Adun Akanni, MPH, PMP - the dynamic brother-sister founder duo whose vision we have steadfastly supported on their journey. Congratulations to TJ and Adun from William Crowder and myself, as well as the whole Aperture team- Marjorie King Philip McKenzie Yves Louis-Jacques Tanvi Lal Michelle Dhansinghani Lisha Bell Katie Kelly Amy Chung Cindy Chong, CFA Brian Fernandes-Halloran Monroe France Jayden Pantel Darren Herman Evan Wladis Neal Triplett Thomas Scriven Peter Ammon Irina Bit-Babik Tim Milanich Rob Rahbari

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🚗 Jeremy A. is an engineer and early stage startup operator who fulfilled his childhood goal of living & working in Boston, building his career where the rubber meets the road, friction and all 🚗 It's W1 / Q1 / 2025 and this week in our MGMT Boston up & coming operator series we’ve got Jeremy,  the Head of Enablement at Seed stage consumer marketplace & shop management platform TireTutor. In this role he owns technical partnerships and is responsible for setting the strategy for how they go to market as a team. He helps set the operating budgets, working closely with Founder & CEO Jason Abrahams and their investors. Jeremy also owns operations & enablement in terms of how their GTM team sells, packages their offerings, and how they deliver their service for customers from strategy to content to better achieve their goals. Heading into 2025, the TireTutor team is highly focused on operations after launching the first true all-in-one POS at the end of 2024, focusing on the key metrics that drive their business. 🗺️ 🧭 Navigating Tough Situations Drives Strategic Success 🧭🗺️ Navigating tough situations is a fundamental part of life in early stage startups. Jeremy’s hard won recipe for success? Get really close to customers, stay close to them, and live in your function. When TireTutor set their early GTM strategy, it was critical for them to be able to “talk the talk” of their customer base. More generally known as “domain expertise”. It was Jeremy’s experience, both by inexperience and logging all of those hours, that having a consistent “ground game” is what drives strategy. Not the other way around. Strategy comes from talking to 100s of customers and properly segmenting your market successfully because not all prospects and customers are created equal. TireTutor found that there were specific tire focused shops that fit their early platform really well. Then, over time, they also grew to serve shops who sold tires in addition to repair work. Each has a unique way of being prospected, closed, and serviced. 3 Career Insights / Learnings 🚪 Leave Ego at the Door - “Leaving your ego at the door and being open to what it means to be good at something and not so good at something is an important first step to succeeding in a startup environment. It took me time to embrace that!” 😤 Having Thick Skin - “Startups aren’t easy. You might get yelled at by your customers some days! Having thick skin is about being able to work through those challenges and around them each day to achieve your long term goals” 😅 All Problems Aren’t Problems - “We all have problems that we deal with. But just because there are challenges, doesn’t mean it's the end of the world. Not all problems need to be or can be solved. But being honest about where things stand is really important to making progress” Go ahead and sign up for the newsletter to see the operator learnings we bring you in the weeks ahead!

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ex Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke at Stanford this week. Lots of nuggets here, but most interesting for the near term, Schmidt believes in the next year AI is set to make a big leap forward. He predicts AI will combine three important features: 1. Vast knowledge retention (1 million token models) 2. Text-to-action capability 3. Personal AI agent fleets While the full impact is unknown, everyone may soon command their own AI teams. Here's an example: Imagine you're developing new quantum computing algorithms. Your AI assistants could: - Continuously scan and synthesize global quantum research papers - Generate novel algorithm ideas based on this knowledge - Simulate and test these algorithms across various quantum architectures - Automatically document findings and prepare draft papers - Identify potential collaborators and draft outreach emails All initiated by a command like "Advance our quantum algorithm research." This could dramatically accelerate R&D cycles and scientific breakthroughs.. https://lnkd.in/eJbg6cnD #frontiertech #AI #futurefrontier

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Just over a year ago, Imran Mahmud, MD introduced to me what was then called, Co:Helm. I was taken by the backgrounds and stories of Abdel Mahmoud, MD, Zahid Mahmood & Tahseen Omar and moreso their grit and determination to forge ahead with their mission of reducing the cost of healthcare. They soon got into the Sequoia Arc program with the backing of another friend, George Robson. And have been staying low and building ever since. Inbetween rebrandng to Anterior (formerly Co:Helm). And even more recently announced a new round to add more fuel. https://lnkd.in/e3V4qrRz Happy to be a supporter alongside Annelie Ajami, Dorothy Chou, Adil Mohammed, Andy Young, Caroline Mogford, Christian Arno, Felix Leuschner, Freddy Kelly, Leonard Picardo, Mandeep Singh, Michael Steel, Omid Ashtari, Noor Shaker, Sultan Murad Saidov, Yuelin Li and others in the ecosystem... [Anterior is giving clinicians a second set of hands—and fixing one of the biggest pain points for patients. It is a LLM-powered co-pilot for administration, handling all the work that comes before the clinical decision-making. Where it might take a nurse several hours to track down, organize and summarize hundreds of pages of records they need, Anterior can do it in seconds, allowing clinicians to increase their output tenfold and focus on what matters most: helping patients.] #healthcare

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The (Healthcare) Ground Beneath Our Feet… This year it is likely that over $10 billion will be invested in the digital health sector – a robust amount, no doubt, but inconsequential when compared to the amount of capital tied up in healthcare real estate assets, which is estimated to be $1.2 trillion by Jones Lang Lasalle. Of that amount, approximately $790 billion is in the hospital sector while the remaining $490 billion is in medical office assets. It is estimated that there are 48.6k facilities with 3.4 billion square feet of healthcare real estate, 42% of which are owned by REITs and another 33% held by other private investment vehicles. Much of the digital health investment is meant to make the physical healthcare infrastructure more productive: greater operating efficiencies, greater patient throughput, more relevant personalized care models with better outcomes. As the healthcare system is being pushed to be more distributed to lower cost sites of care, accelerated now by the rapid proliferation of automation and AI capabilities, the potential impact on healthcare infrastructure assets will be profound. Thoughts on what that might look like... https://lnkd.in/eTfAdUbS #digitalhealth Flare Capital Partners

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Insightful look into bioplatform strategy, and what it takes to raise a Series A from my partner, Omri Amirav-Drory: https://lnkd.in/dFv7GbF6

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This San Franciscan has landed in the Big Apple for #NYTechWeek! Here’s why it was important to me to be out here this week and I view NYC as a sister city. ((scroll down for 2 events The Council is hosting today!)) 🏭🏥 Reminder: The Council Fund invests at Pre-seed in Software’s Third Act, the transformation of the essential economy. Our investments span healthcare and industrial sectors like manufacturing, logistics, construction. 🐂 I’m eternally bullish on NY & SF and hate how many pit the two cities against each other. The reality is that a lot of capital and talent flow back and forth between the cities. They need each other to thrive! 🗽🌁 Cities like NY & SF attract young and mid-career talent because of their population density, transient nature, beauty, and reputations as cities where someone new on the scene can make a name for themselves. For the areas we invest in, I’m *specifically* excited about NY because of: 🏗️ Closer proximity to industrial hubs which are scattered across the Midwest / Rust Belt 🏛️ Closer proximity to DC where a lot of regulation around VC, startups, healthcare, onshoring initiatives, and industrial sectors takes place 💰 Many of the large financial institutions that are backing hard tech focused funds and major healthcare initiatives are also headquartered here in NYC 🎯 We’ve got several startups here who are hitting it out of the park, like Dirac and Siena. This has further validated my belief in this ecosystem to support young companies! Today we are kicking off with 2 events on Day 1 of #NYTechWeek 👉 AI Demo Day: The Council, Next Wave NYC, Lynx Collective, Flybridge will host 8 founders and 200+ investors and founders for a pitch competition this evening! Luma: https://lnkd.in/gbdYiJMw 🔜 Can still join the waitlist! Small & Big VCs in Hard Tech: The Council joined General Catalyst, Lux Capital, Iron Prairie Ventures, AlleyCorp, House Of Ventures, Steel Atlas for 2 back to back panels on industrial innovation & collaboration across the capital stack Luma: https://lnkd.in/gj6D4-Au ⏰ Event has passed

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7 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HARDWARE STARTUPS It’s hard to understate the difficulty of the v1 launch of a consumer hardware company. I see a ton of new HW startups coming out. Here are some counterintuitive recommendations… 1) Target a small market for v1, not a large market. You need a small number of people to love your product and this will earn you the right to build a v2. You have to understand your v1 will not make you a successful company. Your v1 needs to prove that you deserve to exist in the first place. In the case of WHOOP, we started with pro athletes who were willing to put up with our v1’s short battery life and flaky Bluetooth connections because they so desperately needed Sleep and Recovery data. A broad consumer base would have rejected it. 2) Be great at no more than 1-3 things. If you try to be great at more than that, you will build a hardware that is mediocre at a wide range of things. You won’t think it’s going to be mediocre, but it will be. 3) You want a small launch. Not because you want small sales but because you want to have a steady ramp. It’s much better to do 100k of sales steadily over 12 months than in 2 months with a huge drop off. Keep in mind you need to manage your manufacturing partner and that there’s nothing better or more efficient than steady and predictable. 4) CAC is your enemy. Referrals are gold. The magic of referrals is that they signal high NPS and they help you grow steadily. Again everything that helps you have a steady HW manufacturing plan is good. Building a referral program for v1 launch is a good use of your time. 5) Be excellent at Software. Turns out being good at both Hardware and Software is a hard thing and something that your BIG COMPANY competitor is actually not great at (excluding Apple here). For some reason, there’s such a magnifying glass on the Hardware development, that Software is then overlooked by consumer startups. Don’t make that mistake. You can be great at both. 6) You should spend an unreasonable amount of time and money on ONE aspect of your Hardware. Could be the design or a technical breakthrough. But something needs to be SPECIAL. In our case, we designed a modular battery pack that allowed Whoop to be charged without taking it off your body. This made our development timeline much longer, but it allowed us to achieve something that no other wearable has achieved since: 24/7 health data. 7) Finally, have an unrealistic belief in yourself and your team. You are not supposed to succeed and the odds are stacked against you. Building hardware takes confidence and you’re up against big players who will rip you off. We went so far as to leave a message for our competitors on our circuit board (pictured below). In the case of Amazon and others, the prophecy came true. If you’re building consumer hardware, I wish you nothing but success. It will be super hard, but super rewarding. Good luck 👊🏼 #consumer #hardware #wearable #startup #whoop

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Interesting conversation between Jason Calacanis and Tekedra N. Mawakana Mawakana, CEO of Waymo (Google's self-driving project).... (Paraphrased) Jason Calacanis: Why are you not testing your Waymo self-driving on highways? You seem focused primarily on city environments like San Francisco, yet in my experience being a tesla-owner from the very beginning (and using both auto-pilot and then full self driving) it is better on the highways. You seem to be taking the opposite approach. Is it because speed kills? Tekedra: Our mission is safety and to get to Level 4 driving (the highest level of autonomous driving, no driver behind the wheel, no drivers' license) and so we’ve made a deliberate decision to focus on crowded urban environments because that is the hardest problem. Anything that doesn’t contribute to our getting to Level 4 is not interesting to us (not intended, but could be back-handed compliment to Musk 🙂) You don’t learn anything new self-driving on the same boring monotonous highways. --- Great point! #waymo #allin #selfdriving #google

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At SignalFire, it's long been our thesis that the next decade of healthcare will follow the trends of how the ecommerce industry evolved in the past decade - increasingly using big data to hyper personalize and target its audience. Isn't it crazy that our healthcare industry is reactive? If you are reading this post, then you are likely one of us - privileged and educated to be proactive about our health. Most Americans aren't. They show up at a doctor's office only when they need help. And that's where things start breaking down - months of wait times, big out of pocket costs, and a frustrating experience all around. Companies like One Medical and Praia Health are fundamentally redefining what proactive healthcare means - engaging patients exactly the way each person wants for the best outcomes. Excited to have been featured on Healthcare Rap Podcast with Jared Johnson to jam about the future of consumer healthcare at length! #healthcare #healthcaretech #innovation https://lnkd.in/gFpmmu6y

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Elevate your networking game with our #SiliconValley VC contact list. Access 200+ #VC firms and 1800+ professionals, along with 1500 emails to help you make valuable connections. Learn more: https://payhip.com/b/eUIyc #venturecapital #startups #funding #startupfunding #startupinvestors #privateequity #founders #entrepreneurs

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💡Benchmarks in the investment industry serve as a standard for measuring the performance of securities, mutual funds, or investment managers. They provide a reference point for analyzing allocation, risk, and return of a portfolio, enabling investors to make informed decisions. Thanks Peter Walker for keeping us all informed!! Can’t wait for this!! Follow and get on the waitlist for this one! #benchmarks #fundraising #Capitalraise #founders #womenshealth #femhealth #medtech #wellness

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Liquid AI, a one-year-old startup spun off from MIT wants to raise $300 million at a $3.7 billion. It would be 10x cap of its seed round of $37M in January. No product yet. They introduce a new class of time-continuous recurrent neural network models. "We construct networks of linear first-order dynamical systems modulated via nonlinear interlinked gates. The resulting models represent dynamical systems with varying (i.e., liquid) time-constants coupled to their hidden state, with outputs being computed by numerical differential equation solvers." https://lnkd.in/gbqXm8cZ

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