Dave Muoio

By  Dave Muoio 01:56 pm February 16, 2021
SNP chips, a type of DNA microarray frequently employed by consumer genomics companies, are "extremely unreliable" when identifying clinically-relevant variants that are rare among the general population, according to a retrospective study recently published in The BMJ. The investigation, conducted by researchers from the University of Exeter, reviewed sequencing data from nearly 50,000...
By  Dave Muoio 01:05 pm February 15, 2021
Facebook could soon be throwing its hat into the health and wellness wearables space. According to a Feb. 12 report from The Information citing four anonymous sources, the tech company has been working on a smartwatch that would include health and wellness and other features for consumers. The Android-based device is said to include a cellular connection so that it can be used independent of a...
By  Dave Muoio 03:50 pm February 12, 2021
Digital therapeutics have been plodding on a steady path toward acceptance within healthcare, but the modality reached new heights during a year of unprecedented adoption for digital health technologies. More and more software-based treatments are picking up regulatory approvals – including three De Novo clearances in 2020 alone – while the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exposed more consumers,...
By  Dave Muoio 02:33 pm February 11, 2021
Data-driven emergency response platform RapidSOS announced this week the close of an $85 million Series C funding round led by Insight Partners. With this, the company has raised about $200 million from investors to date. WHAT IT DOES RapidSOS aims to provide emergency responders with accurate, real-time health and location data before they arrive on the scene. The company's platform collects a...
By  Dave Muoio 12:29 pm February 11, 2021
San Francisco-based mental health and wellness platform Modern Health has kept its foot on the gas throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Today it announced a $74 million Series D funding round just a few months after a $51 million Series C closed in October and formally announced in December. The new investments peg Modern Health's lifetime funding to more than $170 million, the company said, and its...
By  Dave Muoio 02:03 pm February 10, 2021
Mount Sinai researchers are the latest to share data indicating that consumer wearable devices can help flag new cases of COVID-19 prior to molecular diagnosis. Accepted for publication in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, the institution's Warrior Watch Study provided Mount Sinai Health System workers with an Apple Watch and a custom study app. The results highlight a significant...
By  Dave Muoio 03:22 pm February 9, 2021
Theator, a Palo Alto company building an AI and computer vision platform for surgeons, has brought in a $15.5 million Series A round. Insight Partners led the raise, which also included new backer Blumberg Capital, prior investors NFX, StageOne Ventures, KdT Ventures, iAngels and a slew of individual investors. Theator's platform focuses on streamlining pre-operative preparations and post-...
Code displayed on screen
By  Dave Muoio 02:39 pm February 9, 2021
A recent report testing the security capabilities of several mobile health apps highlighted "systemic" shortcomings and vulnerabilities that could lead to the exposure of users' sensitive health and identity information. Conducted by cybersecurity marketing firm Knight Ink and sponsored by mobile app API security company Approov, the investigation reverse-engineered 30 mobile health apps using an...
Person signs document
By  Dave Muoio 11:59 am February 9, 2021
Nuance Communications, the Boston-based maker of various conversational artificial intelligence tools for healthcare, announced yesterday that it has acquired Saykara, a Seattle startup that specializes in mobile AI clinical documentation. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Saykara's lead product is an AI assistant named Kara. During an in-person or virtual visit, doctors can use Kara to...
By  Dave Muoio 02:47 pm February 8, 2021
Late Friday, New York City-based health insurance company Oscar Health unveiled plans to kick off an initial public offering. The tech-enabled company will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol OSCR. Oscar temporarily listed the size of the offering as $100 million, although that value could change as the company hammers out the quantity of shares and price range it will be...