(YC W13)
Each startup was interviewed by our panel of experts, with deep experience in bio-technology, robotics, tech startups, and angel investing. Together, we chose the top 11 with the highest potential.
1 | $45B market |
2 | 40% monthly growth |
3 |
Why Colin liked Chorus Health:
We invested in Chorus because of their ambitious mission to transform women’s health. We love the niche focus on 40+ women’s health (which is a $45B untapped market) and think they will achieve high adoption rates.
The Founders Arfa and Scott are strong with domain expertise and previous operating experience. They were classmates at the University of Oxford and bonded over improving healthcare. This shared passion will help drive the company forward as they scale.
We were most impressed by their organic growth so far and the high engagement rates. Our team believes this could take off as they close more partnerships with clinics, insurers, and patient advocate groups.
1 | 💰Renji (CEO) was selected as 2021's Forbes 30 Under 30 & was a software leader in Fortune 500 Co's! |
2 | 📈 Partnership with Facebook, HTC, & Microsoft, rolling out to millions of AR/VR users! |
3 | 💸 Went through Techstars in 2017 (top 0.1% of startups worldwide!) and raised almost $4M to date! |
Why Daniel liked Immersed:
I’ve been a VR user and enthusiast since the days of the Oculus Kickstarter. It’s been amazing seeing the medium grow and transform how we think about gaming and entertainment. But I’m also painfully aware that we are in the early days of the VR/AR industry. The tech is limited, the market is small, and the commercial interest is experimental at best. However, this is a common phase for all consumer technologies and it’s inevitable that the technologies here get better and the applications more useful. That’s especially true for productivity tools.
Immersed VR is tackling a hard, important challenge: helping people work better and collaborate with others in a world where it’s difficult to simply get in a room together. The world looks obviously different in 2020, but the way people work and work together has been changing for years. I think Renji and his small team understand these problems well and have what it takes to show how useful VR, and subsequently AR, can be for productivity.
1 | Platform live in 143 pharmacies across 6 provinces. Enterprise pilots representing 3500+ pharmacies. |
2 | On-track for $60K MRR by end of 2020 |
3 | Proliferation of new legislations across US and Canada that incentivize clinical services |
Why Jiwon liked MedMe Health:
We chose MedMe based on the formidability of the founders. Purya gives off the vibe of a CEO who is going to get it done or die trying. Nick helped design the Tesla Roadster 2.0. Rui has a Dr. of Pharmacy and deeply understands the needs of pharmacists. They are a well-knit team that has worked well together for over a year
The problem they are tackling is also important and potentially represents a huge new market. Pharmacists are trained to counsel patients and save lives. However, currently pharmacies make money for dispensing pills, not clinical services. This is now changing. Dispensing is now less profitable with new entrants like Amazon, while regulatory reforms are allowing pharmacies to be compensated for improving health. Covid-19 has accelerated regulatory reform for telemedicine.
The "state of the art" software that pharmacies currently use look like it was made in the 1980's and is not as useful for clinical services. We're impressed with MedMe’s product design and traction. They have 21 LOI's and 4 paid pilots, and potentially could be in hundreds of pharmacies this year.
1 | We develop therapeutics inspired by the data collected by animal and microbial genome projects. |
2 | Positioned to mine 32+ terabytes of genomic data for future drug precursors. |
3 | Founded by 2 PhD scientists (3 patents and 14 publications). 2nd-time founder (YCS17). |
Why John liked Petri Bio:
Shu and Joe are two all-star co-founders with deep technical expertise and prior startup expertise. By combining first-in-class comparative genomics and directed evolution, they have developed a library of therapeutic candidates for COVID-19 that neutralize the spike protein on SARS-CoV-2 and inhibit infection. Additionally, the peptide inhibitor can be functionally modified to prime the host’s immune system for response, cleverly doubling as both a therapeutic and immune-boosting combination, providing treatment throughout the entire course of disease progression. The team has computationally identified high-affinity drug candidates, partnered with a manufacturer, and is ready to initiate in vitro candidate evaluation. Finally, their platform can be repurposed for future uses besides biotherapeutics such as the agriculture and industrial biochemical markets.
1 | Founders are ex-Dropbox Growth PM and Ex-XING fullstack engineer |
2 | $18K ARR. 5X-ed revenue since October 2019. +83% in the last 30 days. |
3 | 100% net MRR retention |
Why Colin liked Standups:
We loved Standups because of the enormous opportunity they are pursuing. COVID 19 has fundamentally changed the way businesses operate, and they are perfectly positioned to take advantage of this monumental shift. As more and more teams go virtual, they will need new tools to improve communication and efficiency. It is not a case of if, but when this next-generation workforce tool is built...and we believe it's going to be Standups!
By 2028, 73% of all teams globally will have remote employees. Arjun and JP are both impressive Founders with an endless amount of energy and passion that lights up a room. They can use this to expand their product and continue to close deals. We also liked their complementary skill sets and their shared vision to scale the company.
1 | N-protein based vaccine is backed by the science from SARS-CoV-1. |
2 | Able to produce 1,000 doses in 2 weeks. Can scale to 100,000 doses in a few more. |
3 | Looking at initiating animal trials in the next 6 weeks. |
Why John liked Stark Therapeutics Corporation :
Stark is developing a vaccine for COVID-19 targeting the nucleocapsid protein (N-protein), a well-studied vaccine target from the original SARS outbreak, but surprisingly a target that current vaccine efforts have overlooked. By leveraging the vast amount of research on the original SARS nucleocapsid, we believe Stark has identified a safe vaccine target with a low variance rate and a predictable immunogenetic response. Stark is moving at breakneck speed as they have partnered with a manufacturer, set up a lab for target production, and are looking at initiating animal trials in the next six weeks. Couple this with Anthony’s endless energy, passion, brilliance, and domain expertise, we believe Stark is a major contender to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
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