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Thrive, Frist Cressey raise new venture funds		Read in browser

Thursday, 19 February 2026

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Stuck in limbo

I’ve been seeing more companies offering AI for healthcare tasks that go beyond administrative work into clinical areas, such as suggesting diagnoses. But despite the funding frenzy over AI, it's been harder to get a read on the impact that clinical AI tools will have, how fast they can come online and what regulatory challenges they might face.

I spoke with one startup, which had to shut down earlier this month after being stuck in regulatory limbo. Kintsugi, which uses AI to detect anxiety and depression in people’s speech when they go for routine doctors’ appointments, had a plan. It ran seven clinical trials to prove its tech works, launched pilot programs with hospitals and secured $30 million in total funding from investors that included Insight Partners, which manages over $90 billion in assets and has backed companies like Twitter.

But getting the FDA clearance it wanted took too long, and the startup ran out of cash, CEO and founder Grace Chang told me. To start making money, Kintsugi would have to sell its product commercially, which it can’t do without FDA clearance. The agency has yet to figure out clear rules for this type of AI, on top of being short-staffed from cuts last year.

“It’s really challenging to get innovation to that finish line,” Chang told me, adding that she knows others caught in similar positions. “In this administration, there is a desire to want to bring AI into healthcare more quickly, but I don't think some of those smaller, concrete processes are in place to really enable that yet,” she added.

It doesn’t help that it’s been difficult to raise from health tech investors that have turned more wary after a pandemic-era rush, either, Chang said, citing funding terms that can be predatory.

Read the full story below.

- Ngai

Here’s what’s new

Hims is buying Australian telehealth company Eucalyptus for $240M upfront

The deal announced Thursday morning would allow Hims to launch in Australia and Japan and deepen its presence in Germany, Canada and the UK as the company looks to expand internationally.

Why clinical AI startup Kintsugi shut down

Kintsugi promised to use AI as a screening tool to detect signs of depression and anxiety in people’s voices during routine doctors' appointments, backed by high-profile investors like Insight Partners.

It delivered, publishing peer-reviewed studies and running pilot programs in hospitals. But then it shut down.

It's a healthcare world

400000

There would be nearly 400,000 fewer jobs in the US today than there were a year ago if healthcare-related jobs didn’t offset the labor market, the Washington Post reports.

This week in health Тech

Ashlee Foltz, Hims & Hers’ vice president of compliance, has left after four years for a job at another technology company. She wrote in a LinkedIn post that her time at Hims “was meaningful work, creating practical, risk-based frameworks that supported innovation while helping the business grow in a complex, highly regulated space."

A spokesperson for Hims told Endpoints News Foltz was a “valued member” of the team and led “our corporate compliance function, which includes internal codes of conduct, corporate policies and OSHA compliance. This function remains intact and operational.”

Frist Cressey Ventures raised $425 million for its fourth fund. The Nashville-based firm, co-founded by former Tennessee Sen. Bill Frist, plans to use the fund to invest in early-stage companies using technology, including AI, to change how healthcare is delivered. “There's never been a time, at least, since I’ve been in venture, or been in healthcare, where we have had so many new tools to use to change the status quo,” Frist Cressey partner Olivia Capra told Endpoints.

Thrive Capital raised $10 billion for its 10th fund. The New York-based venture firm has backed healthcare startups including Rightway and OpenEvidence. $1 billion of the fund is focused on early-stage investments, while $9 billion will be used for growth-stage investments, Thrive said in its post announcing the fund.

UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Hemsley has invested in healthcare startups like Solera Health and Monogram Health for years, the Wall Street Journal reports. In the cases cited by the Journal, Hemsley’s name had not been mentioned in public materials like press releases.

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