Good day. Venture capitalists are betting that startup Tuned can persuade employers to expand the benefits they offer to employees with hearing loss.

About 15% of U.S. adults age 18 and over report some trouble hearing, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

Typically, employer benefits for hearing loss have centered on enabling workers to purchase discounted hearing aids, according to Danny Aronson, co-founder and chief executive of New York-based Tuned, whose legal name is TunedCare Inc.

Hearing aids aren’t always the best option, especially for many people with mild to moderate hearing loss who make up the majority of people with hearing difficulties, according to Mr. Aronson.

Tuned is a telehealth company that provides hearing care through employers, which offer its services as a benefit. It charges employers for the benefit, offering several tiers and models that allow for flexibility with different plans and payment models, according to the company.

Tuned, founded in late 2020, raised the $2.5 million seed financing led by Idealab NY and Elements Health Ventures after conducting pilot programs with employers.

Tuned’s online platform enables people to be screened for hearing loss. The company’s audiologists provide advice on treatment, such as a hearing aid or app to deal with a hearing condition, according to the company.

Tuned compensates audiologists for their time, not for recommending a given product, so their advice is unbiased, Mr. Aronson said.

One challenge for Tuned is changing a perception that hearing loss is just about equipping elderly people with hearing aids.  Hearing loss is a broader problem, Mr. Aronson said. With this seed financing, the company aims to convince more employers of that.

And now on to the news...

New venture fund. Israeli venture-capital firm OurCrowd is aiming to raise a $200 million fund in partnership with an affiliate of the World Health Organization that would invest in companies that address global healthcare inequality, Dov Lieber reports for WSJ Pro.

• The Switzerland-based World Health Organization Foundation, a nonprofit affiliate of the World Health Organization, will require companies that receive investments from the Global Health Equity Fund to sign a pledge ensuring their technologies will be available and affordable for lower-income populations and countries.
   
• The new fund is seeking to invest not just in health technology, but health-adjacent industries such as food-tech, agtech and energy companies.
   
• The collaboration, announced Monday at a Clinton Global Initiative event in New York alongside the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, is the latest iteration of organizations collaborating with venture capital to further their goals.

Buyout shop Clayton, Dubilier & Rice has collected around $10 billion in an initial closing of its latest private-equity fund, raising the money in around four months, according to people familiar with the effort, as investors funnel more of their private-equity commitments to experienced managers, WSJ Pro's Laura Kreutzer reports. CD&R focuses on sectors such as healthcare, consumer and retail, and business and financial services. Earlier this year, the firm acquired a majority stake in certain hospice and personal-care divisions of healthcare giant Humana Inc., which CD&R has combined into a stand-alone company called Gentiva Health Services Inc.

Kittyhawk, a startup backed by Google co-founder Larry Page that was working on developing air taxis, said it is winding down its business, The Wall Street Journal's Allison Prang and Andrew Tangel report. Kittyhawk’s closing marks an exit from a crowded industry. A large number of companies, both startups and legacy aviation firms, have been working on air taxis, or eVTOLs (short for electric vertical take off and landing). A handful have gone public. One major issue is there aren’t enough places for these vehicles to take off and land. Integrating them into existing air-traffic control systems has also been a challenge.

Funds

Healthcare-focused Concord Health Partners held the final close of its Concord Innovation Fund II LP with $150 million in commitments. So far, the firm has deployed more than 50% of the growth fund’s capital across six portfolio companies including healthcare software companies Clarify Health Solutions and Loyal Health Inc., telehealth platform Iris Telehealth Inc., surgical implants and robotics technology company Accelus, and MindMaze Inc., which produces technology used to treat patients with neurological disease.

People

Norwest Venture Partners said Zack Scott joined the investment team as general partner for the healthcare practice. He was previously a co-founder and managing partner at Revelation Partners.

Cumulus Neuroscience Ltd. appointed Aman Bhatti to the post of chief executive. He was previously senior vice president of AliveCor BioPharma. Cumulus counts Dementia Discovery Fund, SV Health Investors and LifeArc as investors.

Exits

Sesen Bio Inc. and Carisma Therapeutics Inc. have entered a merger agreement to combine the companies in an all-stock transaction. The combined entity, which is expected to operate under the name Carisma Therapeutics and trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol CARM, will focus on the advancement of Carisma’s proprietary cell therapy platform for the treatment of cancer and other serious disorders. The combined company will have approximately $180 million in cash and cash equivalents, including $30 million from concurrent financing by Carisma, when the deal closes. Investors including 4BIO Capital, Solasta Ventures, AbbVie Ventures, HealthCap, Wellington Partners, Agent Capital and MRL Ventures Fund provided the $30 million financing.

Genfit agreed to purchase fellow liver disease-focused company Versantis. The deal includes 40 million Swiss Francs (about $41 million) at close and up to an additional CHF65 million based on trial results and a regulatory approval. Additionally, Versantis is eligible to receive one-third of the net proceeds resulting from the potential sale of a Priority Review Voucher, if awarded by the FDA. Zurich-based Versantis is backed by investors including Swisscanto Invest, Esperante Ventures, healthequity, Redalpine and Verve Ventures.

Therabody Inc., a maker of devices including massage guns, sleep tinctures and sound therapy goggles for whole-body wellness, closed a $165 million growth equity round. North Castle Partners led the investment, which included participation from HartBeat Ventures and Rx3 Growth Partners.

MicroTransponder Inc., an Austin, Texas-based startup that assists people suffering from neurological conditions that impair sensory and motor function, raised $73 million in Series E funding led by U.S. Venture Partners, and named Prashant Rawat as chief operating officer. New investors Osage University Partners, Action Potential Venture Capital and The Vertical Group also participated in the round, alongside existing backers Green Park & Golf Ventures and Exceller Hunt Ventures. Mr. Rawat previously worked at Boston Scientific, Mainstay Medical, CSF Therapeutics and CVRx.

Scratch Financial Inc., a Pasadena, Calif.-based medical payments startup, secured $35 million in Series C financing. Norwest Venture Partners led the round, which included contributions from Alumni Ventures, Companion Fund, Struck Capital, SWS Venture Capital, TTV Capital and others.

Naveris Inc., a Natick, Mass.-based startup focused on early detection of viral-driven cancers, added $33.4 million in Series A funding. Lead investor Gurnet Point Capital was joined by TechU Ventures and BrightEdge in the round.

Hedera Dx, a Swiss startup developing blood-based testing technology to profile cancer DNA circulating in the blood, landed €14 million in seed funding. Adam Ghobarah, founder of Top Harvest Capital and a former executive at Google and GV, led the investment, which saw additional participation from Inventure, Air Street Capital, Amino Collective and Grids Capital.

ImmunoScape, a Singapore-based developer of T-cell therapies for cancer patients, picked up a $14 million investment. Anzu Partners led the round, which included support from Amgen Ventures and EDBI.

Lyfegen, a health-tech software-as-a-service startup with offices in Switzerland and Newark, Del., grabbed an $8 million Series A investment. Led by aMoon, the round included support from APEX Ventures and others.

Nodal, a surrogacy matching platform, snagged a $4.7 million investment. Led by Amplo, the round included contributions from Scott Belsky of Behance, Chelsea Hirschhorn of Frida, Kate Ryder of Maven Clinic, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Interplay Venture Capital and others.

• Abbott faces competition from heart valve device cleared by FDA
   
• When to get your flu shot and other advice for this flu season
   
•  Asia to roll out first inhaled and nasal-spray Covid vaccines
   
• Most adults should be screened for anxiety, U.S. panel recommends
   
• When is the pandemic over?
   
• Judge rejects antitrust challenge to UnitedHealth acquisition
   
• A chronic disease still waiting for a drug

• Researchers show they can quickly turn CAR-T cells on and off, raising hopes for safer cancer treatments (STAT)
   
• Are $3 million gene therapies the new normal? Experts say bluebird will be a test case for a market ready for prime time (Endpoints News)
   
• We’ve only just begun examining the racial disparities of long Covid (MIT Technology Review)
   
• Foundation behind Novo Nordisk to invest $200 million in building quantum research ‘powerhouse’
  (BioPharma Dive)

This newsletter was compiled by Matthew Strozier, Zachary Cole and Brian Gormley. 

WSJ Pro Venture Capital is a premium service of The Wall Street Journal. We cover venture capital and the global startup ecosystem. Share your tips, comments and questions: vcnews@wsj.com

The Team: Matthew Strozier, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley, Angus Loten and Marc Vartabedian.

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