Between 2015 and 2016, diagnostic startups raised $1.8 billion, according to Ms. Ramsey. However, most of these investors are technology-focused venture capitalists — like Data Collective and Khosla Ventures — rather than healthcare investors. She finds this diparity problematic.
“Investors experienced with the healthcare industry would bring startups expertise from highly regulated areas like medicine and medical devices,” she writes.
As an example of the insight healthcare investors can provide, Ms. Ramsey notes how Theranos — the Palo Alto, Calif.-based blood testing startup that allegedly did not disclose a failed CMS inspection — did not have any scientific or health advisers on its board of directors when The Wall Street Journal first launched its investigation into the company.
“There’s no better way for Silicon Valley to learn what it faces when it comes to products aimed at health and diagnostics than by making some mistakes,” she writes. “But the lack of medical investors in the diagnostics space could increase the potential for more flops than successes.”
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