Chirag Shah’s Post

💡 When You Don’t Research on Ground — Healthcare Hits Back Hard. In the last decade, we’ve seen hundreds of HealthTech startups launch with passion, promise, and funding… But only a handful survived. Why? Because healthcare is not just a market — it’s a living ecosystem. You can’t build a sustainable HealthTech company sitting in a co-working space, studying consumer data or copying Western models. You have to walk into hospitals, sit with doctors, listen to nurses, and understand patient emotions. Real insights don’t come from dashboards — they come from ground conversations. 🩺 Many startups failed because they: • Focused on tech, not trust. • Built products for investors, not users. • Ignored ground realities of Indian healthcare operations. • Underestimated the power of human relationships in patient care. But every failure left us with a learning — 👉 Healthcare innovation must be integrated, inclusive, and insight-driven. 👉 If you don’t understand how care is actually delivered, your tech won’t survive. we believe the future belongs to those who bridge this gap — between technology and touch, between systems and sentiments. #HealthcareNext #HealthTech #DigitalHealth #HealthcareInnovation #PatientCare #Startups #Leadership #GroundReality

HealthTech investing is hard, and it should be. Because the stakes aren’t just about market share or margins. They’re also about impacting real patients, clinicians, and systems. After years of working with founders, clinicians, and investors across the healthtech ecosystem, I realised there wasn’t a simple, practical guide to help investors evaluate growth-stage startups systematically. One that balances commercial promise with clinical credibility. __________________________ So together with the team at IBIS Capital, We created the HealthTech Investor Cheat Sheet: A one-page framework that breaks down what really matters into 5 pillars: 🔨 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Does it solve a real problem in a scalable way, with data to prove it? 🏛️ 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 & 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: Is it proactively compliant or paralysed by complexity? 👥 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦: Do they blend clinical, regulatory, and commercial expertise + have external validation? 💵 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 & 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐬: Is there true clarity on the TAM and go-to-market pathways (especially within the NHS)? 💰 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬: Is there a credible path to profitable scale? For founders, this is also a checklist to stress-test your own startup before the investor due diligence call. Because the best healthtech companies don’t just raise capital, They earn trust. 🤝 ___________________________ 👇 And if you want to see these principles in action, Join us at the upcoming HealthTechX Global Summit (5 Nov 2025)! Where we’ll be bringing together founders, investors, and policymakers to drive better healthcare outcomes through smarter innovation. 💎 Use our exclusive discount code: HTXDISCOUNT30 to get a generous 30% off! 💪 Let’s make healthtech investment as rigorous and human as the healthcare we aim to improve. P.S. What else would you add when it comes to evaluating startups for investment? Steve Roest | Cameron Thompson | Carolyn McIntyre | Estia Ryan | Priya Oberoi | Sabrina Colin | Michelle Tempest | Jonathan Slotkin |

Digital Health Funding Q3 2025: Choppy Undercurrents Beneath a Steady Surface - HIT Consultant In Q3 2025, the U.S. digital health sector attracted $3.5B in venture funding, totaling $9.9B year-to-date. While this growth appears steady, underlying shifts reveal a market in flux. Mega deals dominate, with 39% of funding going to just a few companies, while 35% of financings remain unlabeled, complicating traditional benchmarks. Startups are pivoting towards comprehensive platforms through M&A, as incumbents integrate new workflows into their systems. The landscape is evolving rapidly, demanding strategic decision-making from all players. #DigitalHealth #HealthTech #VentureCapital #HealthcareInnovation #Telemedicine #HealthIT #StartupGrowth ai.mediformatica.com #health #market #funding #digital #deals #digitalhealth #this #report #rockhealth #fundingrounds #fundraising #digitalhealthfunding #healthit #healthtech #healthcaretechnology @MediFormatica (https://buff.ly/VvbHSQY)

Why Health Tech Startups Are the Investor’s Best Bet When we talk about startups, most people think of fintech, SaaS, or consumer tech. But health tech is a category apart—and here’s why it is not just profitable, but also more sustainable for investors: ✅ Evergreen Demand – Healthcare is not a trend; it’s a necessity. Unlike consumer products that come and go, the demand for better healthcare solutions only grows with time. ✅ Impact + Returns – Every dollar invested not only fuels financial growth but also saves lives. Few sectors offer this unique balance of purpose and profit. ✅ Recession-Resilient – People might cut back on luxury, but never on health. This makes health tech startups far more resistant to market cycles. ✅ Innovation + Regulation – Unlike other sectors where disruption can vanish overnight, medical devices and health tech solutions backed by compliance and trials create high entry barriers and long-term defensibility. ✅ Global Scalability – A health innovation proven in one market has the potential to scale worldwide, multiplying both impact and investor returns. 🚀 For investors looking beyond short-term exits, health tech is the sector where money works harder, longer, and with greater meaning. It’s not just investing in a company. It’s investing in the future of human health. #innovation #Forestbloom #healthtech #Aiandhealth #Sustainability

𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘀, 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗙𝗮𝗱𝗲𝘀 Digital health funding hit $3.5B in Q3 2025 across 107 deals, outpacing 2024 and bringing the year-to-date total to $9.9B, according to Rock Health. However, the rise of unlabeled rounds (now 35% of all deals) signals a murkier market as companies delay or skip traditional Series B raises. Series B rounds have dropped by half, and the average gap between Series A and B has stretched to 27 months, reflecting tougher benchmarks for scaling. Meanwhile, clinical workflow and AI startups captured 42% of total funding, led by Strive Health, Abridge, Innovaccer, Ambience, and Commure. Rock Health says consolidation and competition from incumbents like Epic and Oracle are resetting the market, pushing startups to prove ROI and focus on clear differentiators to survive.

🔥Why MedTech is having its moment: 📍 The med-tech sector is entering “a period of accelerated transformation” driven by AI, digital health, and robotics. 📍 With AI in healthcare projected to grow at roughly 40 % year-over-year for the next five years, the opportunity for innovation and acquisition is stronger than ever. 📍 Venture capital investors are leaning in: they see med-tech not just as devices, but as part of an ecosystem that integrates software, data, services and deep clinical workflows. 🔥 What’s fueling the interest: 📍 Shift from “device only” to “device + digital” – More med-tech companies are embedding AI, connectivity, and services into hardware, raising multiple value levers (clinical outcomes, operational savings, data monetisation). 📍 Better exit pathways – Large healthcare companies and strategics have strong appetite, creating clearer M&A scenarios; turn time to value. 📍 Global demand + ageing populations – With rising chronic disease, demands for devices, monitoring, ambulatory care grow; med-tech can scale across geographies. 📍 Regulatory & reimbursement tailwinds – In many markets regulators are increasingly embracing innovative devices (especially ones with AI/ML), and reimbursement models are evolving. 🔍 What this means for founders & investors: 📍 Early-stage players need to demonstrate clinical evidence + clear commercial pathway. The hype around AI alone won’t cut it. 📍 Focus matters: niche indications, physician adoption, reimbursement strategy all need attention. 📍 Consider integrated business models: combining hardware, software, service rather than standalone devices. 📍 Investors should evaluate not only the device’s novel tech, but its scalability, data layer, regulatory defensibility, and monetisation of services/data. 📍 For those of us in healthcare investing (that’s me!) this means we should keep a sharp eye on startups that blur the line: medical device + AI, ambulatory care tools, remote-monitoring platforms with intervention. ✅ My takeaway As someone whose career bridges hospital leadership, investment and wellness innovation: med-tech’s “frontier” isn’t just about the hardware anymore, it’s about connected systems, clinical value, and commercialisation in real healthcare settings. If we get the adoption, regulatory runway, and reimbursement right, the value-creation potential is substantial. If you’re working in or investing into med-tech, now is one of those rare windows of opportunity where timing, technology and healthcare demand align. Let’s make sure the outcome is not just commercial success, but better care for patients, and smarter deployment across health systems. https://lnkd.in/geakfbZ4

Turning Innovation Into Business: Inside the GTM Session with Hadassah Accelerator Last week's GTM event wasn't a pitch session. It was a working lab where founders, clinicians, and investors sat together to stress-test how innovation translates into viable business. We worked through live case studies with NaNose Medical, SurgiAI, and Bilieye. Here's what stood out: Start narrow but show the expansion path: lock in specific use case and indication first. Master your payment strategy: know your CPT codes, your buyers, and how they make decisions. Evidence is currency: hit your clinical and operational KPIs - that's what unlocks your next funding round. Healthcare is fragmented: every geography and channel (Medicaid, ACOs, MSOs, Fee-For-Service) has its own path. Don’t be afraid to take a different path if it helps you stand out. Our international panel of experts shared insights on scaling healthtech globally: Eugene Kandel: healthcare is a local business - success comes from perfecting solution to a specific local problem. Alan Spiro: rigorous work on product-market fit separates successful Israeli companies in the US from the rest; going forward, humanism in AI models will be a winning factor. Daniel Huang: Singapore and Hong Kong are main entry points for Asia with partnerships hinging on clinical validation, operational fit, and economics. Charles Dalton: Brazil, Indonesia, and Kenya are important growth markets to consider; key opportunities in emerging markets - virtual care, AI operations, precision medicine, and value-based care. Ben Wiener: think about local geographic fit from day one. The consensus: Innovation does not close deals. Excellence in execution and personal connections are essential. Startups that consistently meet their KPIs can always raise money. 💡 If the conversations with Nanose, Bilieye, and SurgiAI sparked ideas for your own company, let’s talk. We’d love to explore how we can help.

Healthcare’s New Growth Engine 🚀 Venture capital is flowing back into healthcare 💸 — but startups need more than funding to succeed. They need expertise. That’s where MDisrupt comes in. Founded by Ruby Gadelrab, this AI-powered healthcare expert marketplace connects startups with top healthcare experts—clinicians, regulatory strategists, data scientists, and commercial leaders—on demand. After a record-breaking $23B in U.S. healthcare VC funding in 2024 (up from $20B in 2023), investors are betting on innovation across digital health, biotech, and AI. Yet for most founders, hiring full-time experts across all these disciplines isn’t feasible. MDisrupt bridges that gap—giving startups the expertise to move fast without cutting corners. Even institutions like the American Heart Association Ventures are taking note, investing $1M to partner with MDisrupt and expand access to trusted healthcare expertise. 🔗 Read my latest Forbes article to see how MDisrupt is redefining how startups scale smarter, faster, and more responsibly: https://bit.ly/4n4qBcH #HealthcareInnovation #VentureCapital #HealthTech #HealthcareExperts #StartupGrowth #WomenInLeadership #Forbes

As the HealthTech market continues to expand — projected to reach $3.1 trillion by 2033 — the number of startups managing sensitive personal health information has ballooned alongside it. And with 90% of HealthTech companies expected to fail, what happens at the end is no longer a fringe problem. When you shut down, the data doesn't. Learn how startups can exit without reputational fallout: https://lnkd.in/gg5dw8vj

❓What’s the state of Digital Health global venture funding heading into Q4 2025? 📉 After a strong start to the year, global funding levels dipped through July and August, only to rebound sharply in September, closing Q3 with the highest monthly funding since January — nearly $3.5B invested globally. 💰 Year-to-date, total global Digital Health funding has now reached $24.5B. Yet, the number of deals has steadily declined since May, hitting a low in August before showing a modest recovery last month. 💡 What does it mean? The volume is down, but value is up — a clear continuation of the shift toward fewer, larger, conviction-led investments. It’s a market that rewards ventures with: ✅ AI-native infrastructure ✅ Proven clinical and commercial traction ✅ Scalable, efficiency-first business models 📊 This is just the surface. Our full Q3 2025 Key Trends Report drops this week — powered by HealthTech Alpha, the GenAI-enabled actionable intelligence platform redefining Digital Health strategy 🌍. 👇 Watch this space and get ready to go deeper (link in comments) #DigitalHealth #HealthTech #GalenGrowth #HealthTechAlpha #VentureCapital #FundingTrends #Q3Update #AI #Startups #Scaleups #Europe 🇪🇺🇬🇧🇫🇷🇩🇪