HEALTH TECHNOLOGY MUSINGS
we erratically and irregularly write about our work and about our companies
~ find more at medium.com/ninacapital ~
crafting the future of healthcare with LLMs
Nadin Youssef
Dec 2, 2024
Artificial intelligence's rapid development is transforming several industries, but perhaps none more profoundly than healthcare. In healthcare, Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as a potentially revolutionary tool...
the need to REWRITE PRIMARY CARE
Kyle Sherrill
Nov 26, 2024
Direct primary care (DPC) is a simple idea. Pay a fixed monthly fee and receive unlimited primary care service from a doctor in your area. No catches — no hidden fees or adjustable premiums to worry about. It’s that easy...
the NEED for remote monitoring Maternal Health
Aleksandra Manolceva
Aug 30, 2024
Between 2000 and 2020, maternal mortality globally declined by 34%. However, trends in the US do not correlate with global standards, which raises the question of why. We recently published...
navigating the DIGITAL HEALTH and E-COMMERCE convergence
Paolo Canepanero
Jan 14, 2024
Welcome to the digital health revolution era, where healthcare collides with numerous other realms — including e-commerce, to redefine our approach to medical care. Gone are the days when healthcare was confined...
one of our best investments: EXERCISE to improve health
Nina Capital team
Nov 27, 2023
A few weeks ago, Nadin, our newest team member, pointed this team habit out to me — and, in doing so, inspired all of us to write this article. It turned out to be not only a celebration of our deeply shared belief that investing in exercise is good...
the global race to REGULATE AI
Nadin Youssef
Nov 18, 2023
Recently, the rapid and widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) tools has caused a significant surge in policy discussions surrounding their use. Governments are recognizing the potential risks caused by AI...
rating healthcare: what entrepreneurs need to know about HOSPITAL STAR RATINGS.
Austin Sawyer
Oct 13, 2023
Since 2016, the hospital Star Ratings have become essential to understanding care quality in the United States. This ranking system assigns ratings to hospitals based on their performance in various quality...
the need to include SEX considerations in cancer care
Lulu Patterson
Aug 23, 2023
The idea that certain diseases do not affect one or the other sex is a problematic misconception that creates a barrier to providing quality care. When breast cancer is passed off as a “women’s cancer,” male patients experience...
reporting on FEMALE PARTICIPATION in founding teams
Alexia Bernhardt, Adriana Costafreda, & Marta Gaia Zanchi
Jul 28, 2023
We at nina capital have always advocated for gender diversity in the broader venture ecosystem. Organizations that have diversity make better decisions, period. As a (venture capital) team who invests in...
the need to improve PRENATAL care
Adriana Costafreda
Jul 5, 2023
Meeting their baby for the first time is something parents never forget. While we all wish for the path to this life-transforming event to be smooth and predictable, unfortunately, many parents spend their waiting month anxious about...
the need for innovation in ELDERLY CARE
Adrien Ezerzer, Marc Subirats
Jun 23, 2023
Not just retirement norms are being tested nowadays — while European societies from the Nordics to Southern European are debating how to adapt to retirement ages, medical needs are significantly increasing, and...
raising a round? tips and questions to accelerate the quest...
Austin Sawyer
May 22, 2023
Whether you are a first-time founder or a seasoned serial entrepreneur in health tech, one ingredient for success in raising a financing round is to ask VCs the right questions to properly strategize your raise...
one MED STUDENT flew over the venture capital’s nest
Federico Aureli
Mar 1, 2023
Writing this blog post feels strange. I remember when I was applying for the internship and reading all the posts from past interns, hoping to be in their shoes in the future. After eight months spent at Nina Capital...
building and managing a BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Marta Gaia Zanchi
Feb 17, 2023
A board of directors is among the most mysterious and often intimidating creatures for newly minted CEOs at the helm of their very first startup. Founders’ attitudes towards a board range from reverence to annoyance...
where to START and where to GO
Ferran Marti, Adrien Ezerzer
Dec 15, 2022
At Nina Capital, we have a bias toward founders with international ambitions. This aligns with our strengths and networks, and after working with nearly 40 international teams, we have some tips for founders who share our ambitions: ...
the state of GENDER DIVERSITY in the LIMITED PARTNER ecosystem
Yahel Halamish, Marta Gaia Zanchi
Dec 12, 2022
A little over a year ago, we decided to shed some light on the state of gender diversity in the private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) industry in Spain. We found a strong and like-minded partner in not-for-profit organization...
HEALTHCARE INSIDERS VS. OUTSIDERS: who are venture capitalists investing in?
Federico Aureli, Adrien Ezerzer & Marta Gaia Zanchi
Nov 12, 2022
For many venture capitalists, disruption born of innovation invariably comes from outside the industry that’s about to be disrupted. Taking this position to the extreme, Vinod Khosla stressed to author Sebastian Mallaby in...
our needs for healthcare while TRAVELING
Federico Aureli, Adrien Ezerzer
Oct 25, 2022
Have you ever been a brand new student in a brand new country, suddenly in need of an x-ray after bumping your head on the laboratory bench? Or a tourist someplace where you don’t speak the language, and...
capturing VALUE for early-stage entrepreneurs
Sanchita Pasi
Sep 27, 2022
Articulating an effective value proposition and go-to-market strategy needs to include a thorough stakeholder barrier analysis, especially around who is going to pay and break those barriers...
the FUTURE of VALUE-BASED CARE is in the hands of EARLY STAGE ENTREPRENEURS
Sanchita Pasi
Sep 13, 2022
Healthcare ecosystems in the United States and in Europe are accelerating their efforts to complete the transition to value-based care, and startups are supporting this colossal shift. Two organizations, EIT Health...
the NEED for innovation in MENTAL HEALTH
Caterina Calisti, Federico Aureli
Sep 5, 2022
mental health includes our psychological, social, and emotional well-being. It enables the individual to cope with the stresses of daily life, perform well, and build relationships. It is a basic human right. Hence why...
the SECOND wave of TELEMEDICINE is here, let’s RIDE it
Sebastian Anastassiou
Aug 29, 2022
I like analogies. Analogies are fun. They can take “serious” matters and convert them into a more enjoyable and digestible intellectual meal. In the spirit of fun analogies, I hope you find some educational amusement in...
the NEED for quality care in the FERTILITY sector
Caterina Calisti, Yahel Halamish
Aug 29, 2022
Femtech is a relatively young industry. The broad term refers to technological solutions to address women’s health issues, including menstrual health, reproductive health, sexual health, maternal health, and menopause...
value-based care in ONCOLOGY
Federico Aureli, Himanshu Sharma
Jul 28, 2022
The concept of value-based care — a movement away from a fee-for-service healthcare model (based on volume of care services) towards one based on more effective patient care (based on...
where HEALTHCARE meets FINTECH
Himanshu Sharma
Jul 18, 2022
Not just clinical workflows are being tested nowadays — the way money moves in our healthcare industry is also evolving. There has been a shift in dynamics between patients, payers, and providers...
in the life of two visiting analysts: a new FRIENDSHIP, and lots of LEARNING
Cristina Hortala, Caterina Calisti
Jun 26, 2022
Cristina: If you take a look at my LinkedIn profile, you’ll find that I studied Biomedicine at the University of Barcelona, I’m currently finishing a master degree in Clinical research, and...
formulating your personal MENTAL HEALTH story
Sebastian Anastassiou
Jun 21, 2022
“A ticking time bomb.” This has become an increasingly common phrase used to describe the growing mental health crisis we are experiencing on a global scale. Crisis is the operative word here...
decentralizing clinical trials for MORE ENGAGED & DIVERSE patients
Cristina Hortala, Caterina Calisti
May 24, 2022
The history of clinical trials begins in the eighteenth century with James Lind, a Scottish physician that entered the British Navy as a surgeon. After eight weeks at sea, scurvy began to take a toll on the crew, so he decided to...
how AI, ML, & BIG DATA are disrupting drug discovery & development
Marta Gaia Zanchi
May 15, 2022
This month I had the pleasure to converse on the topic at the 2022 LSX Healthtech Leaders conference, as a participant to a panel skillfully moderated by Steve Carney (Editor, Drug Discovery Today)...
the PURSUIT to UPROOT how we RECRUIT patients
Sebastian Anastassiou
Mar 28, 2022
We are Groot! Apologies, I couldn’t help myself… a consequence of what one might call phonetic neural resonance skewed by some sort of nerdiness factor. Anyway, I digress. Every once in a while, there comes...
the time for DIGITAL CARDIOLOGY is now
Himanshu Sharma
Mar 20, 2022
Nina Capital is no stranger to the unmet needs in the cardiology space, having already invested in four companies across Europe tackling opportunities for improving care in a wide range of settings (from emergency departments to...
cybersecurity in, no, FOR healthcare
Cristina Hortala
Feb 28, 2022
Since the advent of the first computer system and the world wide web, information technology has continued to transform healthcare (mostly) for the better. Unfortunately not only healthcare systems, health technology...
mending broken INFORMATION LOOPS
Marta Gaia Zanchi
Feb 25, 2022
I spent over three years of my doctorate in electrical engineering working to “close the loop” of the first-of-its-kind, frequency-offset Cartesian feedback control system ever used to ensure accurate control of the radio-frequency...
just keep LEARNING, just keep learning
Sebastian Anastassiou, Marta Gaia Zanchi
Jan 6, 2022
Just as Dory keeps on swimming, medical professionals need to keep on learning. They need to stay up to date with the ever evolving field that is medicine, enabling them to provide the highest quality care to their...
data+AI meets MEDICINE meets EDUCATION
Marta Gaia Zanchi
Jan 3, 2022
Last month, I was invited to dive deep into the medical field by producing a webinar with Martin Willemink, Stanford physician-scientist and co-founder of Segmed, and Aline Lutz, Segmed’s medical director. With...
navigating the CONTRACEPTION maze
Sebastian Anastassiou
Sep 30, 2021
Equitable access to contraception is seen as fundamental to achieving the United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and in 2012 the U.N. also declared contraception a human right...
though she is little, she is FIERCE
Yahel Halamish
Sep 27, 2021
“The best things in life come in small packages.” These were my mom’s encouraging words of wisdom while raising three daughters, her way to help me and my sisters be ready for the challenges of a life lived without the...
GENDER DIVERSITY in private equity and venture capital in SPAIN
Nina Capital team
Sep 19, 2021
Nina Capital and Level 20 are delighted to publish our findings on Gender diversity in the Spanish Private Equity and Venture Capital industry. Visit the Level 20 website or contact us at diversity@nina.capital to...
a summer at NINA CAPITAL: combining my passions in a one-of-a-kind internship
Nicole Van Allen
Sep 14, 2021
I was born and raised in NYC, I worked in Los Angeles, and I am now pursuing my MBA at IESE in Barcelona. Prior to my MBA, I spent eight years working in the insurance and insurtech industries and received a B.S. in...
a MEDICAL DOCTOR walks into a venture capital firm and…
Albert Navasa
Aug 28, 2021
My path to a venture capital firm is most certainly atypical, which only contributed to making me a great match for Nina Capital. My name is Albert Navasa and I am currently pursuing an MBA at IESE Business School...
my internship at nina capital: from BARCELONA to STANFORD and back
Marta Munté
Aug 23, 2021
I have been sailing since I was 5 years old, and was a part of the Spanish Pre-Olympic Team for the Tokyo Olympic Games. My name is Marta Munté, I was born in Catalonia, Spain, and I am studying economics at Stanford...
the CARDIAC ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY space: a deep dive
Sebastian Anastassiou
Aug 22, 2021
When we at Nina Capital decide to invest in the most exciting companies, we do so having achieved a near-obsessive understanding of the healthcare space and healthcare need that these companies are addressing. For...
nurturing early stage HEALTHTECHS: part 3
Mary Stuart
Jul 14, 2021
Nina Capital’s goal is to bridge start-ups from the pre-seed stage to the Series A, with the exception of three companies in which it participated in the Series A round: Ultromics Ltd., Kheiron Medical Technologies, and...
nurturing early stage HEALTHTECHS: part 2
Mary Stuart
Jul 7, 2021
Healthcare is a complicated sector that involves many stakeholders with their own sets of incentives. For new technologies to truly enable change for the better — better treatment outcomes, time-saving processes, more...
nurturing early stage HEALTHTECHS: part 1
Mary Stuart
Jun 30, 2021
Barcelona is a wonderful place to visit and live, with its shady plane-tree lined streets, curvy and colorful Gaudi architecture, open-air markets, and its long beach season. It’s also a great location for Nina Capital, a...
my experience as an ANALYST INTERN at nina capital
Lesley Farrah-Dorwling-Carter
Jun 19, 2021
For the past four months, I had the opportunity to intern at Nina Capital, an early stage, specialized venture capital firm investing exclusively at the intersection of healthcare and technology...
the birth of a SPINOFF: Subtle Medical
Giammarco Pacifico, Marta Gaia Zanchi
Dec 6, 2020
Subtle Medical was born at Stanford University in 2017, thanks to the combined efforts of Professor Greg Zaharchuk and Enhao Gong, who at the time was completing his PhD Program in electrical engineering with a...
the birth of a SPINOFF: Elypta
Giammarco Pacifico, Marta Gaia Zanchi
Nov 22, 2020
After two stops in Switzerland, featuring EarlySight and Terapet, our journey to highlight impactful spinoffs continues in Gothenburg, Sweden, on the banks of the Göta älv...
the birth of a SPINOFF: Terapet
Giammarco Pacifico, Marta Gaia Zanchi
Nov 17, 2020
Our quest to explain how a health technology spinoff is born started in Switzerland, with a blog on EPFL-spinoff EarlySight. Today, we move just to the other side of Lake Geneva and share the equally inspiring story of...
the birth of a SPINOFF: EarlySight
Giammarco Pacifico, Marta Gaia Zanchi
Nov 15, 2020
Our quest to explain how a health technology spinoff is born starts in Switzerland, with today’s blog on EPFL-spinoff EarlySight and our next one on CERN-spinoff Terapet....
the birth of a SPINOFF
Giammarco Pacifico, Marta Gaia Zanchi
Nov 9, 2020
Since you are reading this Medium publication, you are most probably the kind of person who has always wanted to have an impact on the world. Chances are you have considered becoming a scientist...
what is behind a NAME
Marta Gaia Zanchi
Oct 30, 2020
Imagine a young child. A girl.Everyone in California, where she was born, knows her as Nina. She is proud of her American birthright and nickname.Nina punches above her weight. She might look small, but...
hiring with PURPOSE
Adriano Fontanari, Marta Gaia Zanchi
Aug 20, 2020
Nina Capital has a strong belief that startups made of a diverse team of individuals in terms of gender, background and ethnicity have a higher probability to succeed. We interviewed Markus Holzer, CEO of...
need-driven investing DURING A PANDEMIC
Yahel Halamish
Aug 11, 2020
With the tragic outbreak of COVID-19, countries around the world have been experiencing major changes. An unprecedented global health crisis has disrupted everyday life across the world. Fundamentally, our belief is...
the need for fast, precise STROKE MANAGEMENT
Marta Gaia Zanchi, Sebastian Anastassiou
Aug 6, 2020
Stroke is one of the leading causes of death globally and the leading cause of chronic adult disability. It is estimated that the health economic cost of stroke amounts to over €45 billion in Europe and $70 billion in the US...
never stop LEARNING
Nina’s team
Aug 5, 2020
nina’s Favorite Books | Yock, Paul: Biodesign: The Process of Innovating Medical Technologies | Horowitz, Ben: The Hard Thing about Hard Things | Holiday, Ryan: The Obstacle is the Way...
the need for accurate ECHO ASSESSMENT
Marta Gaia Zanchi, Ferran Marti
Aug 5, 2020
Cardiovascular disease (CVD, or heart disease) is a class of diseases that involves the heart or blood vessels. There are many types of heart disease that affect different parts of the organ and occur in different...
operating IN A PANDEMIC
Aline Noizet, Adriano Fontanari, Marta Gaia Zanchi
Aug 5, 2020
Startups are used to dealing with a high level of uncertainty and adaptability. Even in the midst of major events, like the COVID-19 pandemic, the most resilient and resourceful startups can apply their...
the need for more DATA LIQUIDITY
Marta Gaia Zanchi, Ferran Marti
Aug 5, 2020
The healthcare industry historically has generated large amounts of data, driven by record keeping for (mostly) billing purposes and to support operations, as well as compliance and regulatory requirements; in the...
the need for safer PROTON THERAPY
Marta Gaia Zanchi, Ferran Marti
Aug 5, 2020
Proton therapy, also called proton beam therapy, is a relatively new type of radiation therapy. Contrary to conventional radiation therapy, it uses high energy particles (protons) rather than x-rays (photons)...