Earlier this month, Andreessen Horowitz led Omada Health’s $23 million Series B round, marking a16z’s first foray into digital health. The fund cherry-picked the co-founder and CTO of Counsyl (listed below) to guide future investments in the multitrilltion dollar industry. Investors poured over $700 million into this section in the first quarter of 2014, an 87% increase on the amount invested in the first quarter last year. With the advent of the Affordable Care Act and developments in wearables and nanotechnology, investors see this industry as ripe for disruption.
Mattermark cultivated the data for all biotech startups that have yet to raise a Series A round and found the following five in the United States that are ready for a capital injection:
- Immunity Project is a non-profit initiative dedicated to developing an HIV vaccine that gives people the power as HIV controllers. Mattermark Momentum Score: 496.
- uBiome is the world’s first effort to map the human microbiome, empowering participants to manage their microbiomes and make important scientific discoveries. Mattermark Momentum Score: 390.
- Guardant Health bypasses biopsies with simple blood tests in order to sequence tumor DNA. Mattermark Momentum Score: 307.
- Counsyl prevents the spread of genetic disease with a prenatal, saliva-based test for more than 100 serious genetic diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, spinal muscular atrophy, sickle cell, and Tay-Sachs. Customers can order the test online or visit a partnered medical center. Mattermark Momentum Score: 277.
- Dignify Therapeutics focuses on pharmaceutical treatment for patient populations with bladder and bowel disorders, such as those with spinal cord injuries or multiple sclerosis. Mattermark Momentum Score: 209.
There are many more healthcare startups that investors can bring into their portfolio. Subscribers interested in populating the remainder of this list, or in searching for companies in different stages of funding, should log in to www.mattermark.com and select “Healthcare” from the “Advanced” filter at the top of the screen. If you’re interested in looking at two companies side-by-side, you can compare startups in your dashboard by simply typing in the company name.