Latest / StartUp Health NOW Podcast / StartUp Health’s 2020 Midyear Insights Report: A Conversation With Jonah Comstock

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StartUp Health’s 2020 Midyear Insights Report: A Conversation With Jonah Comstock · StartUp Health NOW Podcast

• 0:00
  [ on-hold music] I think we're gonna see significantly more capital flowing into the ecosystem over the next decade.
• 0:14
  Um, and most importantly, we're gonna start to see a lot of this innovation that has been invested in
• 0:21
  truly make an impact, um, because we'll start to see usage of these tools and technologies, hopefully in market, um, to impact people's health and wellbeing. That's what I'm, I'm most excited about.
• 0:35
  [upbeat music] Welcome to StartUp Health NOW, the podcast where we talk about the entrepreneurs shaping the future of health and the health moonshots they're working to achieve.
• 0:45
  I'm Logan Plaster, editor-in-chief at StartUp Health.
• 0:48
  Today's episode is a conversation with two very special guests, Jonah Comstock, editor-in-chief at HIMSS Media and longtime health tech reporter, and Unity Stoakes, my boss and the president and co-founder at StartUp Health.
• 1:00
  We linked up to talk about StartUp Health's 2020 Mid-Year Insights Report, which we published on July 1st, and which is available in all its glory on our blog, startup.health.
• 1:10
  You can also get all of our previous insights reports at startuphealth.com/insights.
• 1:15
  Our mid-year report demonstrated that health innovation funding has surged during COVID-19 at the same time that so many sectors have been put on ice. Should we be surprised? Is this an enduring trend?
• 1:27
  We'll get into these questions and more during the conversation. Hope you enjoy. [upbeat music] Jonah Comstock, thank you for joining us today for StartUp Health NOW.
• 1:41
  Uh, you're currently the editor-in-chief at HIMSS Media, which, uh, publishes MobiHealthNews, but you've been at this for a long time, uh, before you were in this role as a reporter in the health tech field.
• 1:54
  Uh, I want to start out by asking you, how many years [laughs] have you been covering the health innovation funding trends that we're, that we're talking about today?
• 2:02
  So I joined MobiHealthNews as sort of reporter number one in late 2012, so the fall of 2012. Um, so I, I guess I've been in this space as a journalist for going on eight years.
• 2:17
  Um, and, and, uh, m- as most people will tell you, in, in digital health time, that's, uh, that's, that's most of it.
• 2:24
  I mean, I think you can trace the beginnings back to the sort of the mid-2000s, but really this is when a lot of the excitement has happened, so. I, I could turn the same question to you, Unity.
• 2:34
  How long have you, uh, since starting StartUp Health been publishing the StartUp Health Insights Report? So we started in 2010 publishing StartUp Health Insights.
• 2:45
  Um, Steve and I first got involved in the digital health landscape probably mid-2005 or so, back when there was a, a pack of, at the time, Health 2.0 companies running around, um, launching their, their first digital health startup.
• 3:03
  So, um, yeah, it's been a wild ride, and I think, um, as we've seen happen over the past decade, just year after year, um, continued growth.
• 3:17
  Um, I think about close to $80 billion has been invested globally into the, the category. Um, so we can dig into some of that.
• 3:26
  But, um, the first half of this year, I think is, is right on trend with, with the growth that we've seen progressively happen, uh, with the maturation of, of the market, um, for the past decade. Yeah.
• 3:43
  Yeah, so obviously we're here talking about the StartUp Health Mid-Year Report about health innovation funding, and as you said, we've continued the trajectory in, in a year that's been anything but, but normal.
• 3:54
  So $4.2 billion raised in health innovation this quarter, bringing the six-month total to 9.1 billion, which is up significantly, uh, almost, I mean, 19% up from the first six months of 2019.
• 4:08
  So my first question for both of you, uh, is, are we surprised? Um, there's been a few things written recently saying, um, you know, of course, of course these numbers are up.
• 4:20
  You know, everything is about, uh, figuring out health solutions. But as I recall, that was not how people were talking three months ago. And so I think that's my first question. Are, are you surprised, Jonah? Yeah.
• 4:33
  I think y- I, I am. I, [laughs] I think everyone, you know, hindsight is always... Uh, uh, everything always looks like, you know, oh, we knew all along.
• 4:42
  But the fact is that it's, and I think you note this in your report, there's a huge disconnect between how the digital health industry is doing and how the markets in general are doing.
• 4:54
  And I think that the, you know, if s- if you had known ahead of time this was going to happen and you had tried to predict the effect that it would have on, on this scene,
• 5:06
  y- you would have had to weigh sort of the costs of a down economy and how that affects everyone, including health startups and health, and the buyers in this market.
• 5:14
  Now, ob- obviously, hospitals are not doing great right now. Um,
• 5:19
  with the, the increased need for digital health services and how that would sort of drive, drive funding up and, and drive, um, you know, other sort of m- measures of success, like sales up for the, for these startup companies.
• 5:34
  And I'm not sure that I would have expected the math to work out as favorably as it has appeared to. But I, I think there's probably a lot of reasons for that. Uh, funding is, is an interesting, um...
• 5:47
  It doesn't exactly reflect, uh, what's happening in the market. Sure. It reflects what investors expect is going to happen.
• 5:55
  So it, it, it, it reflects a certain amount of confidence, uh, that ha-They see these tools playing a huge role in what happens next, which is sort of an exciting forward-looking way of thinking of it.
• 6:08
  Yeah, I, I totally agree with that.
• 6:10
  I, I-- first of all, I, I was expecting, um, in continued, uh, progress, if you will, in terms of the amount of money flowing in only because there were so many funds that have raised in the past eighteen months to two years.
• 6:30
  So there is a lot of capital sitting in these funds that continues to need to be deployed. Um, secondly, a lot of these deals were in development, um, for some time.
• 6:44
  So it's, as Jonah kind of, as you indicated, it's not necessarily a real time, um, lens on what's happening in that moment, in that week. Um, there, there can be a lag.
• 6:57
  And then as you suggested, it's also kind of an indication for what's to come. What I'm, um, am surprised about is
• 7:09
  as you scratch the surface under some of the other types of data, um, what's happening across the landscape. So what's happening on the revenue side of things?
• 7:19
  Um, what's happening as you look at the public markets, um, for those digital health companies that are public, and how well they've been doing during this period?
• 7:29
  And then what we're seeing, um, both anecdotally but also just in, in real data in terms of patient behavior, consumer behavior, um, behavior of users of these solutions, I think is, um, exponentially leaping forward.
• 7:48
  So I think there's a lot of other metrics, um, to layer on with the funding data that, that tell a very, very interesting story, um, about the, the inflection point that I think we're in the midst of, um, because of COVID-19 and, and pandemic response globally.
• 8:09
  Yes. It's very interesting. You know, o-one of the reasons why I feel like it's important to, to note, um, that it-- this might not have... This didn't have to go this direction.
• 8:19
  You know, recently we had an expert office hours with Andrew Isaacs, our ventures advisor, and he talked about how when COVID hit, a lot of VCs and, um, just a lot of investment firms hit pause.
• 8:32
  And just that idea that there was kind of like a going, putting things on ice.
• 8:38
  And I think it's important to remember that, that that happened because the growth that we're seeing now, uh, it, it means that we really are being future looking. Like, the, the fact that that ended is important.
• 8:49
  That's just kind of like my perspective. It, it wasn't like the market was so robust that nothing could stop it, it's that there was a decision that was made at some point that, "You know what?
• 9:01
  We're, we're gonna push through." And that, to me, that makes me even more encouraged about kind of where people see the market going. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. I think so. [laughs] Yeah.
• 9:15
  And, and I think, um, you know, it's also one of the other trends that I think is significant is the types of companies that are getting funding. So it--
• 9:28
  obviously, we're seeing virtual care platforms, we're seeing behavioral health platforms, um, take off, um, part of a, a trend that's been happening for some time.
• 9:39
  But there's really a diverse mix of, of types of companies across the landscape that are getting funding. Um, and I think that's a significant point, too.
• 9:50
  It's not just one aspect of the, the landscape that's where all the money's flowing to, it's, it's really happening, um, across I think the whole ecosystem to a certain extent.
• 10:05
  Which to me is indicative of the need, um, the need for transformation still, um, across the, the whole ecosystem. I think it's becoming very clear in very tangible ways, um, the, the gaps.
• 10:20
  Um, and, and we're seeing it, um,
• 10:25
  virtually overnight where-- or literally overnight where, um, you know, going, you know, any health system going from maybe a few telehealth visits every day to thousands every day.
• 10:40
  Um, so the need for those systems to, um, really be operating in, uh, a, a, a new way, um, has-- is, is becoming clear across the whole landscape of healthcare.
• 10:53
  And I think that's another significant, um, thing we're seeing in the data this, this, uh, first half of the year. Absolutely.
• 11:01
  And, and just to follow on that point, um, I think that, you know, there's, there's sort of three ways that COVID-19 has sort of affected the space, and they, and they go from kind of direct, more direct to more indirect, right?
• 11:17
  There's... One, there's the needs that are actually directly related to the treatment of COVID-19 itself.
• 11:22
  Um, you know, so there are, there are needs around, uh, you know, efficiency in, in hospitals and, and using a limited number of beds and, and things like that.
• 11:32
  Um, there are needs around rapid testing, uh, infrastructures. Uh, and then there's sort of
• 11:38
  the needs that are related to the rest of healthcare that is still has to go on, um, and, and making sure that can happen safely while the hospitals are dealing with COVID-19. And that's the bucket.
• 11:49
  You sort of have this, you know, virtual visits and, and rapid upscaling of the virtual visit infrastructure and, and to some extent also remote patient monitoring. What can we do with chronic disease care?
• 12:01
  How can we keep people from going into the hospital where they might contract COVID by using technology? And then the third bucket that's even more removed from COVID is
• 12:11
  now that people are, uh-Now that people on a rapid and on, on a huge scale are becoming aware of these technologies and how they work and how useful and reliable they can be, what does that now enable to happen?
• 12:27
  Uh, you know, because there's been this dramatic shift in sort of market readiness, and that can take you into almost anything in the digital health space, um, because now there's this sort of blueprint for, hey, we can do health remotely.
• 12:44
  No one can argue that we can't, um, because everyone just had to do it.
• 12:48
  So I, I think it's, it's interesting to try to tease out those three different, um, kind of generations of follow-on effect from COVID and, uh, and see each of those is gonna affect the market on a little bit of a different timetable too.
• 13:05
  Interesting. Um, I, I wanna switch gears slightly and talk a little bit about global trends.
• 13:11
  Uh, Unity, um, one of the things that makes our insights report unique is that we're bringing in health innovation funding data from, from all around the world.
• 13:21
  And, uh, before we get into actual trends, why do you think it's important to, to think that way? Yeah. I think this is a, a global, um, opportunity. There's, you know, seven and a half billion people in the world.
• 13:36
  Billions of them have virtually no access to care. Um, it, it's, it's really an opportunity to, to leap, uh, forward on a global basis. And, and we're also seeing innovation hubs all over the world. Um, I would...
• 13:53
  I count at least 40, um, major innovation hubs that all have unique characteristics of, uh, unique attributes of why they're, they're doing something special within digital health innovation.
• 14:09
  Um, for example, if you look across India, they've, they've...
• 14:13
  are really doing some extraordinary things around business model innovation, um, because there's so many millions of people that pay for health services or health solutions out of their pocket from the middle class.
• 14:26
  Um, you look at what's going on in, uh, Finland, for example, and there's just great mobile, uh, health innovation. Um, so
• 14:37
  y- you know, I, I think it's important to really look at, uh, different innovation, where it's coming from, and, um, it really is a, a diverse landscape now. Um, also, we believe that
• 14:53
  one of the biggest opportunities is to cross-pollinate that innovation. Mm-hmm.
• 14:57
  So different technology, different business models, different designs, um, to learn from different, uh, ecosystems, different parts of the world. Um, and I... So I think that's significant. Um,
• 15:10
  and, you know, you start to see unique patterns. Um, one of the trends that, um, I'm paying attention to closely, I'm not sure what it means yet, um, but some of the investment's gone down from China, uh, more recently.
• 15:28
  Um, so I don't know what that means. That maybe that's a temporary blip. Um, but there's... we're also seeing, um, exciting new, uh, ecosystems emerge from London to Toronto ar- around the world. So some, some...
• 15:46
  And, uh, also at the early stage, there's a lot going on in South America now. Um- That's right... there's emerging, em- emerging ecosystem there, um, from São Paulo.
• 15:57
  We've got a couple of new companies we just invested in, um, in Colombia, um, doing some really cool things. So, um, it really is a global opportunity, um, and there's innovators all over the world now.
• 16:10
  So it's, it's really exciting to see that there's investment happening, um, all over the world too. Yeah. And I would add, I, I don't...
• 16:18
  One area you didn't mention is, um, Israel especially and, and the Middle East more generally has just been... it's become such a, a major hub for, for digital [laughs] land.
• 16:30
  You know, I think early in the coronavirus we saw the, kind of s- the positive effect that, uh, telehealth could have and the way that Sheba Medical Center dealt with their patients from, from the cruise ship, from the Diamond Princess.
• 16:43
  Yeah. I look at our even investments that have happened out of our E, uh, portfolio, um, and it really is all over. Um, Cyclica raised $16.3 million Series B. They're in, in Canada.
• 16:58
  Um, you've got QuickGenius, um, in, in London, raised 11 million, uh, series A.
• 17:06
  Um, we've, we've got, uh, many, many companies that, um, have raised over $10 million rounds, um, already in the first half of, of this year. Um, so it's, it's really interesting to see
• 17:21
  both the diversity in what they're focusing on as well as where they're operating out of and the markets that they're serving. I think that's a, a, an interesting trend to watch as well.
• 17:33
  I've had the opportunity to, to speak with three or four, uh, founders from South America, and you alluded to this, Unity.
• 17:40
  Um, and I feel like the interesting trend that I noticed is that it felt like these companies, even more than, than others, um, were positioned to do this kind of leapfrog that, Unity, you've written about in the past, where they, the infrastructure was at such a level and their, their global connectedness was at such a level, they were really able to, uh, pull the best from the US, from Europe, uh, from around the world, and they were able to eliminate some common problems and some common, uh, pitfalls.And, and jump ahead, whether it was in, um, electronic medical records, whether it was telemedicine.
• 18:21
  And it was so-something about where Colombia and Chile, uh, so-some of these countries, where they were at in terms of infrastructure, that they were really poised to do that kind of leapfrog.
• 18:34
  Yeah, if you think about it, um, you know, just, just designing your platform or technology in a different language, starting with that, um, is significant.
• 18:47
  Also, thinking about, um, the technology platforms that are most relevant for your region, for your part of the world.
• 18:58
  These are significant things and a-again, I think why it's important to, for investors to be making these opportunities all over the world.
• 19:06
  One of our companies, Undoc Trace, um, out of Colombia, it's-- I think it's the, the largest, uh, telehealth platform in the Spanish-speaking world.
• 19:17
  Um, and they focus in, in very smart ways, um, on s- They're, they're hugely popular in Colombia, but other parts of South America, as well as the United States, um, because they focus on the Spanish-speaking, uh, world.
• 19:37
  Um, so it's, it's really interesting to see both the technology innovation, the platforms being used, but also how these platforms are being designed, um, with the, the patients or, uh, the customers that they're serving in mind.
• 19:57
  It seems obvious, but, um, innovation [chuckles], uh, doesn't always operate that work during the early stages. So, um, it's definitely, uh, an important trend to be paying attention to as well. All right.
• 20:12
  I want you both to pull out your crystal balls now because part of this report, uh, is it begs the question of what's next. We've talked, uh, a lot about, uh, BC, AC, before COVID, after COVID.
• 20:25
  There's been this line in the sand and years of, uh, telehealth and virtual care adoption happened in a matter of weeks, and now we're in this new paradigm.
• 20:36
  And yet, when you look at the headlines and when you look at the numbers, we realize we're not actually post-COVID yet. Uh, we're, we're sort of after the initial moments. We're in COVID.
• 20:46
  But really what happens in Q3, Q4, um, is, is up for grabs. And so I'm wondering, J-Jonah, for you, um, when you're writing about this landscape, um, how do you conceptualize, how do you think about what comes next?
• 21:02
  What the summer looks like, what the fall looks like based off of the trends that you're pulling together? Yeah. Well, obviously, you can't predict the future, but there are some
• 21:15
  sort of commonalities that, that people seem to, to agree on that are gonna kind of shape broadly the way the industry is gonna go from here. Mm-hmm. So, so a few of those are, one,
• 21:27
  there's a, a big question, um, in, in order to sort of-- in, in recognition of the sudden need for telehealth and the, the speed with which it needed to be rolled out, the, the government in the United States, um, and I'm gonna be a little US-centric here just 'cause it's, uh, it's where my expertise is here.
• 21:44
  Um, you know, they quickly rolled back the, um, a, a lot of...
• 21:48
  Or not rolled back, but they kind of introduced temporary waivers and, and, uh, and different things to, to greatly reduce the, the regulatory and reimbursement challenges that have held back telehealth.
• 21:59
  So there's a big question about w-which, if any of those changes they're gonna make permanent, and, and there's a lot of pressure to make more, more of them permanent.
• 22:09
  So pretty clearly, you know, some things are gonna go back to the way they were, other things aren't. Exactly where that breaks down is gonna affect, um, how--
• 22:20
  it's gonna affect whether people sort of go back to doing things the way they did before or keep doing, you know, telehealth things the way they're doing them now. So that's, so that's one thing.
• 22:28
  You know, there's been a huge change to the regulatory that was a, a big stumbling block before. We don't know how permanent that's gonna be, but it's looking like it, it's gonna be at least somewhat permanent. Mm-hmm.
• 22:40
  Um, and then the second thing is, you know, now we're experiencing a second wave of the virus. Um, even when we weren't, we, we always kind of expected that at some point.
• 22:50
  But even, even if that, you know, kind of doesn't happen, there's this other, uh, kind of sword hanging over us, which is all of the elective procedures, all of the things that need to be done that have been put off because they weren't urgent.
• 23:05
  Um, uh, you know, the people who didn't get seen for minor things that could turn major because they didn't wanna go in because of COVID.
• 23:12
  So there's, there's health systems are anticipating this sort of non-COVID boom of things that have been being, being put off.
• 23:21
  And so that, in combination with the second wave, really is just gonna keep increasing the strain on, on health systems. Um, so there's gonna-- and that's gonna demand a whole new kind of
• 23:34
  batch of solutions that aren't just solutions for sort of dealing with the virus, but for, for kind of, um, uh, increasing the efficiency and virtualizing everything we do in healthcare.
• 23:46
  So those are the, those are the two things I would sort of-- I'm sort of watching going forward, and, and I think those will affect how well we weather sort of the later stages of, of this pandemic.
• 23:58
  W-which in many ways aligns nicely with the diversity of the deals we saw in Q2. We, we didn't just see a bunch of COVID solutions. We saw it across f-virtual care for pharmacy, for, for wellness. So it's interesting.
• 24:12
  I, I think an aspect of this, uh, from theLet's see.
• 24:17
  From the market side that sort of fascinates me is this idea that we've, um, we've gotten through, uh, sort of the panic buying [chuckles] period of the COVID, where, uh, people said, you know, "I need telemedicine, and I'm gonna just, I'm gonna pick up the first platform that uses Zoom that I find."
• 24:37
  Um, and so, you know, this, this mass early adoption. Now, even though we're still in COVID, there, there seems to be enough mental space to say, "Okay, let's go back to committee."
• 24:50
  Uh, and, and I've heard this from a couple different founders, that they're, they're sensing this sort of second wave in the market where, okay, let's think more deeply about what our system needs.
• 25:01
  Um, let's integrate the systems. Let's, let's do that next phase of, of integrations so that we're really building for the future and not just reacting to the moment.
• 25:12
  You know, a lot of these platforms and solutions have been being built for many years in some cases. And what's happening now is the customers are showing up. Um, they are buying.
• 25:27
  Um, this is the big trend of the first half of this year, and specifically the last quarter. The buyers are here.
• 25:36
  There's been a lot of capital flown in, a lot of building of infrastructure, a lot of building of new solutions and innovation. But now what's happening is the market is buying.
• 25:47
  Um, and I guess you could say there was some panic buying, but there's, there's just... It's moved beyond, uh, uh, you know, the, the, the early customer development phases to we are looking to
• 26:04
  put in place solutions that are meaningfully going to transform our workflow. Um, so you're seeing a couple of, I think, important trends play out. Number one, the sales cycles are, um,
• 26:20
  drastically being reduced. So contracts that in the past were taking 18 months are happening in weeks, some cases days. Um, we're seeing this with our portfolio.
• 26:33
  That, uh, that might allude to the panic buying, um, but what's happening is sales are happening, um, from, in many cases, established, uh, innovators, established companies.
• 26:48
  I think you look at a company like Conversa, um, they have been around for several years. Um, and they've built a lot of, uh, results and data and credibility with hel- health systems like Northwell.
• 27:04
  Um, so they've got a lot of credibility that they're now able to sell in, um, across the ecosystem. Um, so I think we're gonna see, uh, s- the
• 27:16
  m- more, more companies actually, um, accelerating in their revenue and their sales. We're gonna see, uh, condensed sales cycles.
• 27:26
  And also, another trend that I think is different from years past is in, you know, Q3, the summer months tend to slow down in the venture world. This is a working summer.
• 27:38
  Uh, VCs are not flying off to their yacht in Europe or where- wherever they go. Uh, there are deals happening. I think we're gonna see, um, a lot of activity.
• 27:51
  This is gonna be a working summer, um, both because people are stuck wherever they are, um, but also this urgency.
• 27:59
  Uh, we are in an urgent moment, um, where there is significant demand, significant need, and significant opportunity. So I think in particular, um, we're gonna see a lot of activity in the second half of, of this year.
• 28:15
  Um, and one other [chuckles] kinda interesting trend, uh, I don't think we're gonna be seeing any live events. Um- Yeah...
• 28:21
  uh, where normally we would be deep in planning for our Startup Health Festival take, that takes place during JP Morgan in, in January. This is gonna be a virtual event this year.
• 28:34
  Um, and Health and others are, have already announced, um, that they'll be virtual. Um, Jonah, I know, um, Hims, uh, was right on the cusp of, of this back in, uh- Right... in the beginning wave of this. So, um, I think
• 28:52
  these deals are gonna be happening virtually. Um, and there is gonna be a lot of virtual deal making happening, um, in, in the later part of this year. I think so. Yeah. I think it's really interesting.
• 29:05
  I mean, and we're g- we're, we're, um, maybe getting a little off track.
• 29:08
  But, you know, even back in January, I, I think every year at JP Morgan, there's been a little more conversation about whether JP Morgan was really useful or valuable because it's gotten so big and so hard to get into.
• 29:22
  And, and, you know, people are always saying, you know, "Why do we spend all this money for this?"
• 29:26
  And, and so it's interesting to me to think, like, that conversation was already happening, that people were not sort of quite sure
• 29:34
  where the value they were getting out of these events was lying, even though we know that a lot of deals are born at these events and a lot of the, you know, a lot of partnerships are, are born there.
• 29:43
  But then to have, sort of now to have to live in this world with no events for, you know, probably quite a long time, 'cause even when there's a vaccine, these things have the potential to be, you know, super spreaders and hotspots.
• 29:54
  And so they're, it's gonna be, we're gonna be holding off for a long time. I really, I'm not sure.
• 29:58
  Because if a, if a viable alternative way to do this networking emerges, then, uh, you know, I could see people having a hard time going back to events on the scale that they did before, even when, you know, even when the risk is gone.
• 30:14
  On the, on the optimistic side, um, you know-We are seeing so much extraordinary engagement in the ecosystem week after week. We've been hosting expert office hours with our three hundred and forty,
• 30:29
  uh, companies, um, these virtual events. There's just really been some amazing, um, showcases of innovations that more and more people are, are coming to.
• 30:41
  So I think there's been a lot of, of, uh, engagement, if you will, that's been quite positive. Um, and, you know,
• 30:53
  a-as I, as I reflect on where we are this mid-midpoint into the year, really 10 years into from when we've been tracking StartUp Health insights, um, what have we got? Close to $80 billion invested in the sector.
• 31:10
  We've tracked six thousand two hundred and fifty investments. Um, but what I would say is if you just think about that, um, there's multiple people, um, who are personally worth more money than that. Right.
• 31:28
  Um, so all the money that's been invested over 10 years in the six thousand two hundred and fifty companies, um, it seems like a lot of, of money, but I think really we are just at the beginning.
• 31:42
  Um, what we've seen over the past decade is really laying the foundation for what's to come.
• 31:50
  Um, this after COVID moment, even though we're still in COVID, um, the, kind of the dividing line between before COVID to this, this, uh, post-pandemic world that we're in the midst of is an extraordinary moment.
• 32:07
  It's, I think, a defining, uh, moment of opportunity, um, for all of us in this ecosystem to really be a part of the transformations to come.
• 32:20
  I think we're gonna see significantly more capital flowing into the ecosystem over the next decade. Um, and most importantly, we're gonna start to see a lot of this innovation that has been invested in
• 32:34
  truly make an impact, um, because we'll start to see usage of these tools and technologies, hopefully in market, um, to impact people's health and wellbeing. That's what I'm, I'm most excited about.
• 32:48
  I'll throw one more thing in there. Um, this is, you know, it's easy to forget with everything else that's going on, but 2020 is also a major election year and, you know, if the primary is ind-any indication, um,
• 33:02
  healthcare, health reform, how we pay for healthcare in this country is gonna be on the ballot in a big way, and I think the sort of Overton window of what could happen with that is wider than it's ever been. Mm-hmm.
• 33:18
  So, you know, on top of the ways that COVID-19 has changed the world when it comes to healthcare and healthcare technology, um, you know, we could, we could potentially see in the next year or two years, depending on how everything goes, um, just a radical change in how the United States pays for healthcare, um, maybe to possibly bring us more in line with how the rest of the world does.
• 33:43
  And I think, you know, you guys certainly are aware having, you know, having this global perspective, having seen the way that healthcare startups and healthcare companies
• 33:51
  can function differently in, in companies that, you know, in countries can function differently in, in countries that have single payer or more like single payer options.
• 34:00
  That could just have a huge effect on this market and what's viable and what's profitable, so. Well, Jonah, I think that's a fantastic note to end on, and Unity, thanks for that, sort of those closing thoughts.
• 34:13
  Um, Jonah Comstock, we appreciate you taking the time, and, uh, Unity, al-always good to have your, your wisdom on here on, uh, StartUp Health NOW.
• 34:22
  We'll have to see how Q3 goes, and, uh, we should check back in and do this again in about three months. What do you say? Sounds good. [laughs] I, I would love that.
• 34:32
  And Jonah, I, I just wanna thank you for, uh, all the great report over the years and continue to do. It's, it's, you're always, um, have, uh,
• 34:44
  really there, uh, kinda shining a, a spotlight on this innovation when most others weren't.
• 34:51
  So, um, it's just great to read your stuff, and I hope everybody, um, out there, uh, already is or, or signs up to be reading Jonah Comstock. Thank you. And I, I'll extend...
• 35:03
  I'll, I'll pass that shout-out along too to, to the team that's really doing it at MobiHealth right now, um, Managing Editor Laura Lovett and Associate Editors Dave Moyo and Mallory Hackett, who's our, our newest addition to the team.
• 35:16
  And they're really just, uh, kind of really carrying on the, the vision there. And, and, uh, I'm just, uh, you know, just a, a, a shepherd, you know. [laughs] Thanks, Jonah.
• 35:28
  Well, we, we, we appre-we appreciate that, that shepherding. So, uh, thanks, thanks for the time. Stay safe, be healthy, and we'll talk to you later. All right. Thank you. Bye. Bye.
• 35:38
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• 35:45
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• 35:54
  Thanks for listening to StartUp Health NOW. We'll be back next week. [outro music]