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Three Questions With Primetime Partners' Abby Miller Levy
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By Brian Gormley, WSJ Pro
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Good day. Venture investor Primetime Partners launched in 2020 and raised a $50 million fund to finance healthcare, fintech, consumer and media startups with products, services and technologies that could help older adults live better. The New York-based firm, which has invested two-thirds of the fund in healthcare, caught tailwinds from the pandemic with its investments in this sector, says Abby Miller Levy, Primetime’s co-founder and managing partner. Because of Covid-19’s impact on older people, this segment of the population was often in the news, and issues such as equity and access in healthcare gained attention. “It was an awakening for many entrepreneurs to start thinking about older populations,” says Levy. Startups, she says, can develop tools to improve healthspan: the number of years people live healthy lives.
We spoke with Levy about Primetime’s healthcare investments. Here are excerpts, edited for length and clarity.
WSJ Pro: Why has healthcare been a particular focus for the firm?
Levy: If you ask older adults about what they care about most, they talk about staying healthy and living independently. The reality is that in the U.S., while we’ve extended lifespan, healthspan has not grown as quickly. The opportunity for entrepreneurs is to focus on how we can increase healthspan, with a byproduct that we decrease healthcare costs.
WSJ Pro: One sector you have been targeting is mental health. Has the need for mental healthcare in the older population been overlooked?
Levy: It’s become accepted, but it’s been slowest to penetrate an older audience. There’s an opportunity to deliver care to an underserved audience. We’re seeing what a big opportunity it is and how attainable it can be to close that gap.
WSJ Pro: What are some of the obstacles facing entrepreneurs in healthcare?
Levy: The sales process. The traditional healthcare-enterprise channels have gotten harder because there are so many startups pitching them, and they want immediate ROI. The flip side is, there are a lot more channels now—pharmacy, retail, media companies. Home care has gotten more into technology. While the established channels are harder, there’s a lot of new channels.
And now on to the news...
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THOMAS R. LECHLEITER/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, ALEX BRANDON/ASSOCIATED PRESS, ISTOCK
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JD Vance’s venture-capital career. Before JD Vance joined Donald Trump’s ticket as the vice presidential nominee, the U.S. senator from Ohio had a short-lived career as a venture capitalist, working at three different firms over a handful of years. Vance’s track record was mixed, reflecting the realities of early-stage startup investing: Companies oftentimes fold, are snapped up by rivals or grow rapidly, fueled by subsequent funding rounds while facing an unknown future, WSJ Pro’s Marc Vartabedian reports.
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Vance began his venture career in 2016 with Mithril Capital Management, a firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, before joining former AOL Chief Executive Steve Case’s venture firm Revolution, where the bulk of his venture work took place and he sought to invest in startups in the Midwest and other regions outside the coastal tech hubs. He ended his venture run around 2021 when he left his partner post at Narya Capital, a firm he co-founded in 2019 with Colin Greenspon in Ohio and helped raise a $120 million debut fund.
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Of the 14 companies that Vance helped lead investments for while at Revolution, 10 have gone on to raise additional funding, at least one eventually went out of business and four were acquired. Acquisitions and additional funding rounds are marks of success for startups and their investors.
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Of the roughly 14 startups Narya has invested in, one went public via a special-purpose acquisition company and at least seven went on to raise additional capital. It couldn’t be determined which investments Vance helped the firm make. WSJ Pro Venture Capital has compiled a status report on some of Vance’s investments. A spokesperson for Vance declined to comment.
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Struggling AI Startups Look for a Bailout From Big Tech
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Artificial intelligence startups raised billions of dollars last year, aiming to become winners in the latest tech-driven boom. Now many are struggling to survive—and asking Silicon Valley’s biggest companies to bail them out, The Wall Street Journal reports. At least three once-hot AI startups have been rescued via a new type of deal that many in the tech industry say are acquisitions in everything but name. These deals have the advantage of skirting the typical regulatory process at a time when big tech’s growing control over generative AI is being scrutinized by governments. On Friday, Character.AI announced a deal for Google to use its technology and hire many of its researchers
and executives, including its co-founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas. Google negotiated a licensing fee worth $2 billion for the startup’s technology to help buy out early investors, people familiar with the matter said.
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OpenAI Co-Founder Leaves for Rival Anthropic
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OpenAI co-founder John Schulman is leaving the ChatGPT maker to join rival firm Anthropic, the latest senior departure from the artificial-intelligence startup, WSJ reports. Schulman said in a post late Monday on social-media platform X that he wanted to focus more on AI alignment. The term refers to the development of safety systems to ensure employees can control the technology they create, in line with a set of human values, even if the tech exceeds human capabilities. Schulman said he wanted to “start a new chapter of my career where I can return to hands-on technical work,” and had decided to pursue that goal at Anthropic. The rival startup was founded by former OpenAI engineers in
2021 and is backed by both Amazon.com and Google.
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People
Ground transportation technology-focused investor Autotech Ventures said Logan Green, co-founder and board chairman of Lyft, joined the firm as a venture partner.
Cybersecurity investor Ballistic Ventures promoted David Hahn to CISO operating partner. He previously held positions at Silicon Valley Bank, CDK Global and Hearst.
Artificial intelligence security provider CalypsoAI promoted Donnchadh Casey to chief executive officer. Prior to joining the company, he was chief customer officer at Qualtrics.
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Abnormal Security, a San Francisco-based email security startup preparing for a potential initial public offering next year, raised $250 million in Series D funding. Wellington Management led the round, which included participation from Greylock Partners, Menlo Ventures, Insight Partners and security company CrowdStrike’s Falcon fund.
Riverlane, a developer of quantum error correction technology, raised $75 million in Series C funding led by Planet First Partners.
Mechanical Orchard, a San Francisco-based startup whose technology helps organizations transition from legacy IT systems to cloud-based applications, scored $50 million in Series B financing led by GV.
Octane, a New York-based provider of instant financing for purchases including powersports vehicles, recreational vehicles and outdoor power equipment, closed a $50 million Series E round led by Valar Ventures.
Seeq, a Seattle-headquartered provider of analytics, artificial intelligence and enterprise monitoring to industrial companies, completed a $50 million Series D round. Sixth Street Growth led the round, with Managing Director Nari Ansari joining the company’s board.
Andrena, a startup building a decentralized wireless network, picked up an $18 million investment led by Dragonfly.
Aurascape AI, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based cybersecurity startup, landed $12.8 million in seed funding led by Mayfield Fund.
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The IBM z16 mainframe system, during a manufacturing test at an IBM lab in 2022. IBM
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