#Twenty25 - Funding the future of health tech - Part 9/20 Interview with Francesca (Check) Warner, Ada Ventures

Ian Coyne: From an investment perspective, particularly in early-stage digital health, what do you think will be interesting in 2025? Where do you think investment and money will go?

Check Warner: At Ada Ventures, we invest with an inclusive lens, focusing on businesses tackling problems faced by people who haven't had venture-backed products and services built for them before. In the HealthEquity space, which I lead, we aim to get people access to more years of healthier, higher-quality life. This includes addressing issues faced by billions of people who haven't had therapeutics or drugs created for them due to structural underrepresentation in pharma companies and tech investing.

One area of interest is women's health, where we are still scratching the surface. Conditions like endometriosis, heart health, cardiovascular issues, and autoimmune diseases impact mostly women but haven't received the investment they deserve. Eighty percent of people with autoimmune disease are women but this isn’t addressed in research or investment.

Another exciting area is making healthcare systems more efficient and effective, whether through better back-office management, decision support tools, note-taking, diagnostics, or remote monitoring. These improvements can free up clinicians' time to focus more on patient care. 

Ian: Beyond 2025, are there any bigger themes you think we will see in the next two to five years?

Check: A significant theme is early intervention and proactive health management. People are increasingly moving towards regular health scans and monitoring, rather than reacting to symptoms as they arise. This shift is evident with companies like Neko Health and Zoe, which offer health insights and preventive measures. Another major development is the impact of GLP-1 drugs, which are showing promising results not just in obesity but also in neurodegenerative diseases, inflammation, and diabetes. Additionally, the field of proteins is rapidly evolving. The number of known protein structures has exploded, thanks to advancements like AlphaFold, which will unlock new therapeutic pathways and opportunities. 

Ian: Why is there underrepresentation in certain areas of health, like women's health, despite the market being significant?

Check: Historically, women and other underrepresented groups have not been included in clinical trials, leading to a lack of data and understanding of their specific health issues. It’s shocking that the inclusion of women in clinical trials wasn’t mandated until 1993.

Additionally, decision-makers at the board level of companies and in venture capital have been fairly homogeneous, lacking the immediacy of understanding these problems. However, this is changing as more funds like Ada Ventures focus on these untapped markets, leading to better products and services for these groups. 

Ian: How do you see the shift towards proactive health management impacting the broader population, beyond the wealthy and healthy?

Check: This shift is already happening in primary care with patient stratification and risk stratification programs for conditions like prostate cancer. These programs identify individuals at higher risk and ensure they get screened early. While current tools like Neko and Zoe are more accessible to the wealthy, the goal is to make these preventive measures more widely available and potentially reimbursed by healthcare systems like the NHS. This would improve overall health outcomes by catching conditions early and managing them proactively. 

Ian: If you had a magic wand and could change anything to drive huge innovation in health tech, what would that look like?

Check: For venture capital and the broader ecosystem, the key is more M&A activity and exits. This would bring capital back into the early stages of the system, fostering new startups and encouraging more investment. More liquidity and exits at all levels of the market would mean more money in the ecosystem, more belief from limited partners, and a stronger flywheel effect. This would ultimately lead to more innovation and better outcomes in health tech.

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Francesca (Check) Warner, Co-founding Partner at Ada Ventures

Check started her career in marketing before pivoting to venture. She loves customer-centric companies that build communities and focus on the user. Her objective in life is about creating opportunities for people to realize their full potential. Check is a co-founder and CEO of non-profit Diversity VC.

About Ada Ventures