ICHRA: The Next Big Thing?
Sam Bogrov·4 min
Healthcare
Why We Invested In Sound Health - Personalized Allergy Relief
AG
Amit Garg
December 26, 2021·3 min read
Excited to announce our investment in the $2M seed alongside TechU Ventures and Rhythm Ventures into Sound Health, which uses acoustic resonance to provide nasal relief. Tau Ventures is an AI-first fund in Silicon Valley investing primarily in seed but we occasionally take earlier or later bets when we see immense promise. The company was founded in 2019 and impressed us with (1) a strong need, (2) creating a differentiated product, (3) run by an experienced team.
1) The Need
Nasal congestion is a big problem -- every year 25M Americans suffer from it because of allergies, 28M from sinusitis, 1-2M women bear with it during pregnancy. Beyond the slew of home-grown recipes to manage the issue, people today rely on drugs like Claritin or devices like neti pot. But there is another way to provide immediate relief without requiring ingesting or inhaling anything. The science behind using vibrations to clear up sinuses is well-established and we saw in Sound Health a way to productize it.
2) The Product
The current product is an app that scans your face to map your bone structure and then a headband that plays music at personalized frequencies for 10 minutes. The headband is off the shelf and the sound levels are akin to wearing earpods. We envision the headband to be over-the-counter (OTC) so it’s easily accessible to patients, whether prescribed to by doctors or not.
3) The Team
We think the cofounders have just the right balance of company-building and healthcare knowledge to be able to overcome regulatory and adoption challenges. Paramesh was previously CEO of a public company, VP / GM of another public company, and holds a BS, MS and PhD in electrical engineering and computer science. Paramesh dealt with severe nasal congestion in 2018, which prompted him to explore solutions in the space, and that’s how he connected with his cofounders. Bryant is a doctor who codes and cofounded a startup sold to Stryker. He is a Professor of Medicine at Stanford with an undergrad and masters in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT. Peter is the Chief of Rhinology at Stanford and an authority in the space.
We are honored and excited to be part of Sound Health’s journey, using technology to solve a big problem. More at http://sound-health.net.
Originally published on “Data Driven Investor," am happy to syndicate on other platforms. I am the Managing Partner and Cofounder of Tau Ventures with 20 years in Silicon Valley across corporates, own startup, and VC funds. These are purposely short articles focused on practical insights (I call it gl;dr -- good length; did read). Many of my writings are at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amgarg/detail/recent-activity/posts and I would be stoked if they get people interested enough in a topic to explore in further depth. If this article had useful insights for you comment away and/or give a like on the article and on the Tau Ventures’ LinkedIn page, with due thanks for supporting our work. All opinions expressed here are my own.
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Amit Garg