Jason Scharf’s Post

Now that Generative AI is at everyone's fingertips, what’s next is figuring out how to effectively use this tool to create sustainable value. On July 10th at the Generative AI Summit in Austin, I'm moderating a panel of experts to explore this very topic and more. What burning questions do you have about turning AI’s potential into tangible results? Drop your thoughts below and I might include them in the firing squad...err, well-moderated conversation 😉 AI is both what's now and what's next.

🧬 This week's Austin Bio & Health Roundup features nearly $200M in funding & new capital, M&A, more infrastructure coming, & hopefully an opening of the Texas Bio & Health IPO window🧬 💰 Funding Function Health has closed its Series A, securing $53M in total funding. Function’s platform offers 100+ tests for $499 per year, focusing on prevention and empowerment. The round was led by a16z Bio + Health and includes several celebrity investors. Congrats to Mark Hyman, MD, Pranitha Patil, Jonathan Swerdlin, Mike Nemke, Seth Weisfeld, and Dan Swerdlin. Sensi.AI raised a $31M Series B led by Insight Partners and Zeev Ventures to enhance its 24/7 monitoring technology for seniors and home care. Way to go Romi Gubes and the entire team! Ironspring Ventures raised $100M for their second fund, focusing on “manufacturing, construction, transportation, and energy.” Exciting times for Ty Findley, Adam Bridgman, Peter J. Holt, and the expanding Ironspring team! Now, why include this in a Bio & Health newsletter? I believe there will be a value migration from drugs, devices, and diagnostics to the bio innovation tech stack itself. One key area of that stack is biomanufacturing. As new modalities like cell and gene therapy rise, the challenge of scaling these therapies presents a significant opportunity for innovation. While as far as I know Ironspring hasn't invested in this subsector yet, I look forward to seeing what they do with Fund 2. 🤝 M&A and Partnerships Significo, a software development that builds healthcare apps and solutions, acquired Bunch, an AI leadership coach app. Congrats to Rick McCartney and team! 🚀Launches, Expansions, and Milestones BrainCheck, a cognitive assessment software platform, announced their adoption by the Physicians Hearing Network (PHN), bringing insights to 270 members across 12 states.  Keep up the momentum Kim Rodriguez and team! 🏗️ Infrastructure Texas State University is partnering with Concept Companies to build a life sciences incubator at their round rock campus. The incubator will have labs, offices, admin support, and collaboration spaces. The teams hope to complete construction by the end of 2025. DES Architects + Engineers opened a new office in Austin, aiming to bring their expertise to the city’s burgeoning life science market. Welcome Kevin D. Norman, Tracy Wong, and the rest of the DES team! 🚩 Texas Bio Triangle Fort Worth-based biopharma company Actuate Therapeutics, Inc. is preparing for an IPO, targeting a raise of about $50M. What’s Next? #AustinNext #LifeSciences #Healthcare #Biotechnology

In honor of the The Board Walks' 100th walk this past weekend, I am re-releasing my Austin Next interview with Elle Beecher, the founder, driving force, & conductor of this amazing community. We talk curiosity, building community (and what that even means), 1920's Paris parallels in Austin (this episode was the origin of my obsession with the idea), & how the very nature of networking is changing. ⬇ Find links to the full episode in comments. Whenever I hear concerns about complacency in the Austin ecosystem or a perceived lack of communal spaces, I always point to what Elle has built and the numerous communities inspired by her vision. What's Next?

🧬 This week's Austin Bio & Health Roundup features key data insights, community events, significant launches, and well-deserved recognitions. 🧬 📊 Data Opportunity Austin's new Life Science report reveals that the region is actively addressing the infrastructure gap with over 4M square feet of life sciences space and an additional 1M in development. The report highlights four key subsectors: AI-enabled life sciences & digital health, biologics & biopharma R&D, Medtech (with a special focus on Neurotech), and clinical trials. I strongly agree with AI-enabled life sciences & digital health, Neurotech/platform-based Medtechs, and would also add care delivery & business model innovation as another key pillar. ----------------------- Peter Walker from Carta provides new data makes clear what everyone has been feeling: it’s tough to graduate from Seed to Series A funding. If you raised a seed round in 2020, around 30%-40% raised an A within two years. For those who raised in the first half of 2022, that range dropped to about 10%-20%. The Bio & Health sector has had it particularly tough, with Biotech at 9% and Healthtech at 13% making it to Series A. The question now is: do these numbers reflect a much tougher current environment, or was the seed stage in 2021-22 so overinflated that many companies that shouldn't have raised got funding? 🏙️ Community BrainCheck and the Alzheimer's Association hosted a panel on the latest developments in brain health, featuring BrainCheck CEO Kim Rodriguez, clinicians, and other important stakeholders. My key takeaway: innovation in care delivery and healthcare business models must go hand in hand with truly disruptive products. Without systems that can effectively integrate and diffuse these innovations, we won't see widespread adoption or their downstream benefits. Early detection, prevention, cures, etc.; our current business models and healthcare systems are not designed or have aligned incentives for them. The onus is on healthcare systems and models to adapt or be disrupted. 🚀 Launches, Expansions, and Milestones Natera has introduced the Donor Quality Score for their Prospera Heart Test, enhancing rejection detection in transplant patients. This feature increases sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive value . 🏆 Recognition The 2024 Best Places to Work in Austin list was announced, with Bio Health companies making a strong showing across all sizes. Congratulations to Alafair Biosciences, Inc., Entrusted Pediatric Home Care, Texas Children's Hospital, Texas Physical Therapy Specialists, and WeInfuse for being recognized for their outstanding workplace environments. What’s Next?

Going to make a play for SXSW 2025 through Panel Picker (after striking out the last 3 years) & I am looking for a cheat code or really just a little boost. I’m determined to create something impactful on the page and on the stage. I have some ideas, but as SXSW is all about community, I am asking for your help. 📚Topics What topics do you think I’m uniquely suited to tackle? Have any of my Austin Next podcast episodes or writings particularly resonated with you or deserve a deeper dive? What about a new angle on a commonly explored area or an under discussed issue? 🏗️Format Style Should this be a solo presentation, an in-depth fireside chat, or a lively panel discussion? And if it’s not just me, who should join? Please share your ideas in the comments or message me directly. 🙏 This community has been so amazing helping me think through What's Next.

🧬 This week's Austin Bio & Health Roundup features key insights from other regions, exciting funding news, major research advancements, and significant developments across the Texas Bio Triangle. 🧬 💡Insights from Other Regions & My 2 Cents Patrick Sisson in Bisnow reported on the Research and Development District in downtown San Diego, a 1.7M sqft multi-use life sciences project. Costing $915M, it has 0 signed tenants just months before opening. Don’t forget that the San Diego region is one of the world’s top Bio & Health clusters. The critical issue: "To this day, much of the life sciences real estate in San Diego tends to be more office park or campus-style sites that aren’t in walkable urban neighborhoods." So, what does this have to do with Austin? You need alignment between location, infrastructure, & sector. I am not convinced that 80%+ of Bio & Health companies work downtown. Keep this in mind when people pitch a downtown Austin Life Science Innovation district. 💰 Funding Workweek, a publishing platform for business professionals, closed a $12.5M Series A.  This is in the Roundup because their vertical, run by Blake Madden, focuses on healthcare. It’s also another case of Austin funding Austin as the round was led by Next Coast Ventures. Congrats Adam Ryan! Koda Health, a digital care coordination company for advance planning, raised its oversubscribed Seed+ round led by Austin’s own Ecliptic Capital. Super pumped for you Tatiana Fofanova, Ph.D.! 🔬 Research & Medical Advancements Eliah Overbey, Professor of BioAstronautics (what a cool era we live in) at Austin’s newest university, the University of Austin, published a series of studies in Nature on what space flight does to humans. Professor Overbey led a multi-institutional research team that obtained 3,000 samples from the SpaceX 2021 Inspiration 4 flight, resulting in a “10-fold increase in publicly available human space cell health data." 🏆 Recognition Christian Keil & Ryan M.’s BuildList, a viral database of critical tech companies, features numerous Austin companies including Paradromics Inc. & Harmonic Bionics, Inc. in Bio & Health. Way to go Matt Angle and Mark Hunter! 🚀 Launches, Expansions, and Milestones Wheel launched Horizon, their new AI virtual care platform with predictive care pathways and configurable, patient-centered care programs. Amazing work Michelle Davey! Keyspan is bringing their affordable biomarker testing and personalized coaching to Austin Simply Fit to enhance their fitness programs. Kudos Nate Taylor! 🏙️ Community Join the BrainCheck-Alzheimer’s Association brain health panel on June 20th, featuring Briaincheck CEO Kim Rodriguez. Link to the event in the comments. I’ll be attending & hope to see you there! 🚩 Texas Bio Triangle Solugen, a synthetic biology unicorn, secured a $214 million loan from the Energy Department to build a Bioforge, marking a significant step for Houston’s industrial bio sector. What’s Next?

If you’ve been following me, you know I’m a big fan & supporter of what University of Austin is building. Tomorrow, June 14, from 2-5pm, they’re hosting an open house. Tour the campus, meet the deans, & even start an application. Be What’s Next, Austin!

How is AI transforming the future of defense and warfare, and what role does Austin play in this evolution? On today’s Austin Next episode, I sat down with Charlie B., Founder and CEO of both Valkyrie and their newest spinout, Valkyrie Andromeda, to discuss not just the technological advancements shaping modern warfare, but also the philosophical, inspirational, and cultural underpinnings behind those advancements. Episode Highlights: 🌟 What is Andromeda? Synthesizing large volumes of information quickly and accurately to make informed decisions. 🎥 Media Narratives: How pop culture and media, from Terminator to Oppenheimer, shape public perception of technology. 🤝 Industry & Defense: History has shown that industry and defense have always been intertwined, with modern tech entrepreneurs playing roles similar to past industrialists. 🔢 Probabilistic Thinking: The critical role of thinking in probabilities and confidence intervals to manage high levels of uncertainty. 🔮 Intelligence Community in Austin: "I think the next thing for Austin...we're going to see a big push to support the intelligence community the way we've seen a big push to support the defense community." ⬇️ Find links to the full episode in the comments. What’s Next?