💡 What’s Hot (and Not) in HealthTech? Insights from Leading VCs 💡

🌟 Had an awesome, fun time at Snell & Wilmer‘s Palo Alto office moderating an incredible, panel of investors, who invest in HealthTech startups at the seed stage and later, writing checks from $50,000 (PlugnPlay writing checks on a daily basis—no kidding) to $20.0 million plus.

🚀 The panelists, Melody Po, DigitalDx Ventures, Garrett Vygantas, M.D., Riverine Ventures, Ayah Hamdan, Head of Health, Plug and Play Tech Center and Ephraim Lindenbaum, Advance Ventures 🌟 Ella Li, Ph.D. 👑 Li, H7 BioCapital and Alex Efron, Telegraph Hill Partners, delved deep into today’s most pressing questions and trends shaping the future of healthcare innovation and investment, including:

The most exciting HealthTech sectors catching investors’ attention and those that aren’t

• How macroeconomic factors like inflation interest rates tariffs and geopolitical instability are influencing investment strategy
• The promise of AI in healthcare — and the disconnect between innovation and real-world adoption
• Where AI will create lasting value (and where it’s overhyped) in diagnostics, drug discovery, and personalized medicine
• The role of clinical validation and regulatory clearance in VC decision-making
• How VCs evaluate the reimbursement landscape in early-stage investments
• Differences in how HealthTech VCs vs. tech VCs evaluate startups
• Key traits investors look for in founders and startup teams
• The value of medical advisors, KOLs, and endorsements
• Common fundraising mistakes and myths health tech founders need to avoid
• The three smartest questions a founder should ask a VC before accepting their money

The conversation was sharp, real, and refreshingly tactical. These investors didn’t hold back — and their insights are gold for any HealthTech entrepreneur navigating the current landscape. Innovation is not enough. Success in healthcare requires market readiness, clinical and regulatory alignment, and deep empathy for the complex systems you’re trying to change.

Big thanks to all the panelists for their candor and perspective. If you’re building in health tech, this is the kind of conversation you need to be part of.

🌟 Once again, thanks to Snell & Wilmer for hosting and sponsoring the event, Rob and his tireless volunteers for executing on it, and to the vibrant community of investors and startup entrepreneurs who add to the thriving startup ecosystem- Plug and Play Tech Center Patrick Salyer Jordan Wahbeh Darwin Ling Brian💥 Sparkes David H. Crean Silvia Veronese Sree Menon Sherri Douville Piyush Malik Rajesh Swaminathan Sanjit Singh D. Ekta Dang, PhD Karen Roter DavisEvangelos Simoudis Shashank Bharadwaj Sam Wong Karolyn Zeng Stephanie Perrault, and so many more…