Heal to lay off more than 240 workers and more digital health records

To tend toa primary care and home telehealth company, will lay off more than 240 workers in New York and California.

According to WARN notices filed in these states, Heal will reduce 182 jobs in Los Angeles County and 60 positions in New York.

End of October, Heal announced its expansion with Cigna Medicare Advantage members in Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina and South Carolina. The startup recently raised $100 million from insurer Humana in 2020.

Heal’s layoffs are the latest in a series of job cuts in digital health companies. Earlier this month, digital behavioral health company SonderMind laid off 15% of its employees, shortly after announcing the acquisition of Total Brain.

Other digital health companies that have recently made cuts include Headspace Health, Komodo Health and OneStudyTeam.

Quirisa clinical prediction software company that uses AI to predict viable drug candidates, raised $9 million in seed funding, bringing its total raise to $37 million.

The round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 with existing institutional and private investors including iAngels, Richter Group, Welltech Ventures and GlenRock Capital.

In January, Quris harvested $28 million in its first round of seed funding.

The company uses its Bio-AI clinical prediction platform to test drug safety through its Patients-on-a-Chip system, which combines stem cell tissue analysis and AI to simulate a person’s reaction to a drug.

The new investment will help the company grow its team, advance its platform, establish industry collaborations and accelerate its research.

“We believe the early prediction capability that Quris is developing has a real potential impact on the global pharmaceutical industry,” Yossi Cohen, director of Israeli operations for SoftBank Investment Advisers, said in a statement. “By harnessing the novel application of AI, Dr. Bentwich and his team could save the huge costs of drugs that fail in clinical trials and, in the process, create a business in Israel of significant economic value.”

Based in Boston PharmStars, a pharma-focused digital health accelerator, has announced that it is accepting applications for its fourth cohort.

The Spring 2023 program will focus on digital health solutions that address women’s health conditions and conditions in which women are disproportionately affected or perform worse. PharmStars will also examine digital innovations that address health inequalities for underserved populations and promote equitable and inclusive healthcare.

Launched in 2021PharmStars focuses on educating health tech companies and the pharma industry on collaboration, providing mentorship to digital health startups looking to engage with pharma and biotech companies.

the the application deadline for the Spring 2023 cohort is January 14.