Mr. Market woke up out of his summertime nap with some surprising end-of-July activity. What will August bring?
On the M&A front, virtual care mega Included Health is acquiring Firefly Health. This adds a virtual-first health plan and advanced primary care services to Included’s established telehealth and care navigation business. In February, Included quietly entered the health plan business with an Alternative Plan Design for employers that offers an alternative approach to health benefits. Firefly is classified as an Alternative Health Plan as Administrative Services Only (ASO), quoting a 15% savings in total cost of care and 90% member satisfaction. Interestingly, San Francisco-based Included’s acquisition cost of the Watertown, Massachusetts company is not disclosed nor are any management or service transitions. The deal is expected to close in Q3 2026 and is subject to regulatory review. Readers will recall that Included was formed from telehealth pioneers (2011-12) Grand Rounds and Doctor on Demand, with the small LGBTQ focused Included Health picked up in 2021, then rebranded with that name. It is solely focused on employers, health plans, public sector organizations, and unions. Release, MedCityNews
Candid Health raised a $120 million Series D. Lead investor for this revenue cycle management (RCM) company is Sixth Street Growth, with participation from Oak HC/FT, 8VC, and Y Combinator. This follows a February $52.5 million Series C led by Oak HC/FT for a total raise of $220 million since 2020. TechCrunch Candid concentrates on provider financials, automating medical billing and health insurance claims to speed payments. Sixth Street release, MedCityNews
DarioHealth’s latest ‘rabbit out of hat’ is a $23.5 million RDO. As we’ve previously noted, DarioHealth started in MSK therapies and by 2023 branched out to clinically-based interventional care management solutions through apps and consults in cardiometabolic and behavioral health, including GLP-1 prescribing for weight management. DarioHealth’s latest is true to its form in creative financings as previously noted here and here. This bit of funding legerdemain is an RDO, a registered direct offering. From the SEC Form 8-K, DarioHealth is selling to institutional investors 2.4 million of their publicly traded stock at $6.80/share plus pre-funded warrants for over a million shares at $6.7999. This raises $23.5 million before deducting the offering expenses. The RDO closed on 23 July. Mobihealthnews
Our old friends at TytoCare, notably quiet of late, added $25 million to their war chest and brought on some fresh horses. The growth/venture round brings their total financing to $231 million. The round for the remote physical exam tech company was led by Insight Partners, with participation from existing strategic investors OliveTree, HOOP, Qumra Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, OrbiMed and others. In the release, the lead repositions of the company as now a “AI-First Clinical Enablement Platform, Bringing FDA-Cleared AI-Powered Insights into Virtual Primary Care to Support Cardiopulmonary and Oncology Care” which doesn’t quite follow through on the website which focuses on their devices. Joining the company are Adam Pellegrini as CEO, replacing co-founder/CEO Dedi Gilad who moves to chairman. The other co-founder, Ofer Tzadik, remains with the operating company in NYC and Israel. Mr. Pellegrini is the former CEO of MSK/pulmonary management company Kaia Health, acquired last January by Sword Health for $285 million, and previously co-founder and former CEO of cancer support company Jasper Health out of Redesign Health. Also onboarding as COO is Greg Orr, former Walgreens VP Digital Health and COO of Jasper Health. One suspects some changes are in the offing. Mobihealthnews
Our last and most unusual company is Aurenar, which has developed a non-invasive neuromodulator for inflammation that stimulates the vagus nerve in the ear. The destined use is for ICUs to modulate the body’s secondary and toxic inflammatory responses to conditions such as subarachnoid hemorrhages and stroke. The V-Link vagus nerve stimulator gained FDA breakthrough device designation on 30 June. The oversubscribed seed round of $5.7 million was led by American Heart Association Ventures’ Go Red for Women Venture Fund and Solas BioVentures, with participation from BJC Health and Kaleida Capital. Initial validation has been through multiple pilot clinical trials at St. Louis-based Washington University, where Aurenar is located. The funding will be used for pivotal trials around stroke, including final device development, verification and validation testing, plus regulatory submissions to the FDA. Other uses will center on additional inflammatory conditions disproportionately affecting women. FierceHealthcare, MassDevice, Mobihealthnews
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