Wellknowlogy: 8/9/22

Wellknowlogy is a curious, honest, and caring source of news and thoughts on innovations in the wellness industry. We intend to provide an efficient way for providers, technologists, capital, and enthusiasts to stay in sync and informed about endeavors to increase wellbeing.

This week's fundings hit on two interesting industries: FemTech and alternative nutrition. For those less familiar with FemTech and the longstanding absence it fills, check out this McKinsey piece briefly outlining its history and intentions; it's great context. Alternative nutrition is interesting to follow as it plays a central role in both human health & wellness and environmental concerns. Innovations making an impact in those spaces is always appreciated.

My other interesting takeaways from this week center around some news and reports of success in mental health therapeutics. The article below about improved wellbeing in nurses is terrific. It's always great to hear that something trying to make people happier actually works. This case is particularly encouraging, as it's working for a population that's vital to society, over-stressed, and under-served. It's also great to see the microbiome getting some attention with a new therapeutic program and a simple article explaining its importance below. Cool stuff, indeed.

To close out the intro, here are nine AI-generated graphics of smiling microbiome per DALL-E mini.

With that out of the way, here's what happened last week:

Fundings

• Materna Medical raises $22M as Femtech becomes a billion-dollar sector

• Meati Foods secures $150M in series C funding to expand its mushroom-root meat business

• Clean Food Group raises £1.65m for palm oil lab alternative

• How Australia's All G Foods will use $25 million in cellular milk investment

Neat Articles

• Apple's vision for advancing personal health

• Meta making headsets "sweat-proof" to support the VR fitness revolution

• New molecule just dropped: pursuing less disease, more wellness, and longer life expectancy

• Among many benefits, Vitamin D helps you sleep!

• The outsized impact of tech on behavioral health in marginalized communities

• Inside the challenge to DEA’s proposed scheduling of 5 psychedelic tryptamines

• Immature sensoring disadvantages Femtech startups

• Mental health app, Neuroflow, improving wellbeing in nurses

• Casper is hiring professional nappers with 'exceptional sleeping ability'

Market News

• Resmed acquires Leipzig-based Mementor with insomnia solution, somnio

• Orangetheory® fitness sprints into the corporate wellness game, joining Gympass' massive network

• Openfit acquires Lebron-backed supplement brand Ladder

• Scrum Studio announces participating wellness startups for Wellbeingx open innovation program

• Braxia buys KetaMD to get into remote-delivered ketamine treatments

• Galexxy acquires CBD & functional mushroom health supplements manufacturer, Wellbeing Farms

• Apollo Neuroscience partners with NFL Alumni Association

• Seed Health and Fitness launches a gut-mind improvement plan in partnership with Axial Therapeutics

Tidbits for You and Yours

• How to sleep like a sleep scientist

• A brief explanation: the link between gut and mental health

• Why you should exercise when pregnant

Closing Kernel of Wisdom

Qigong is the ancient Chinese practice of circulating, renewing, and strengthening our most base life force, or qi. Check out the link for a brief video to learn more:

 "Human beings live on qi. We come from qi and we return back to qi... medicine is not as good as food; food is not as good as qi."

Thanks for checking out this week in Wellknowlogy! I hope you are finding value here. If there's something that you would appreciate seeing in future emails, please let me know.

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Wishing you a great week to come!

Warmly,

Dayton