Good morning! This is Vedica with the update today. To kick-off this week, we have big news from Dailyhunt and Phable.

1. https://tcrn.ch/3tFIhB2: Dailyhunt and Josh's parent firm raises $100M

➡️ VerSe Innovation, the parent firm of news and entertainment app Dailyhunt and short video app Josh, said it has raised over $100M as part of a Series H financing round from Qatar Investment Authority and Glade Brook Capital Partners.

➡️ In Dec last year the company had raised $100M+ from Google, AlphaWave, and Microsoft. That round gave the company unicorn status.

➡️ Last year the company launched Josh, its short video app, after New Delhi banned TikTok. Josh is only on the players — others include MX Player and ShareChat — that have attempted to fill the void created by TikTok's departure in India.

➡️ Josh reportedly has 85M MAUs — 40M DAUs — and the app sees more than 1.5 billion video plays everyday. The start-up is now eyeing international expansion. It looks like the funds raised will primarily go towards beefing up Josh. The startup said it will deploy the fresh capital to broaden its local languages content offering, and expand its creators ecosystem and AI and ML tech stacks.

2. https://tcrn.ch/3jDsVbB: Phable raises $12M to help patients with chronic illnesses

➡️ Phable, a three-year-old health tech startup that serves patients with chronic illnesses in India, has raised $12 million in a new financing round. Manipal Hospitals led the Series A and existing investor New Jersey-headquartered SOSV also participated in the round.

➡️ Personally, I think the idea behind Phable is really cool. Sufferers of chronic illnesses have to manage their illnesses, medication etc. everyday. There are appointments with doctors and labs for tests, purchasing of medicines, medical devices and insurance, and keeping a log of their test results.

➡️ Phable claims to have built a full-stack solution to process all these transactions, and also claims to have the world’s largest integration with medical IoT devices. As a result, the app can automatically collect patients’ data so that doctors can keep better track of their progress. The app also enables patients to share what medicine they are taking, and the frequency of the intake.

➡️ A common problem with chronic illnesses or any antibiotic treatment is that patients get lax once their health improves, which often leads to longer-term complications. Phable allows a doctor to nudge their patients to take their medicine on time, and make any necessary changes to the lifestyle or medication cycle, or request a follow-up appointment.

➡️ In my mind, the big challenge Phable will face is adoption by doctors. The company says it aims to reach 5 million patients and 35,000 doctors by the end of the year (currently ~5K doctors use it).

Feedback & ❤️ always appreciated BONUS (Tweet of the day):

Dana Goldstein @DanaGoldstein

My husband does 50% of the work of taking care of our two kids. I wanted to say this because women have been brutalized by this pandemic — I feel brutalized today — and public policy is a big reason why. But also, to young women out there, who you partner with matters.

February 9th 2021

949 Retweets18,012 Likes

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