On today’s show we have Payal Agrawal Divakaran. She leads digital health investments as a partner at .406 Ventures in Boston who was, of course, the first institutional investor to bet on Redox, leading our Series A back in October of 2015. We discuss some of her journey as well as where she’s making (and has made) bets in healthcare technology. This includes Redox, AristaMD, Heartbeat Health, WellbeHealth, and Axial. We also discuss areas where she has an active thesis and is looking for investments.
We recall the first time Redox got to our first big contract with a health system, and why .406 stuck it out with us when it all fell apart.
These are the special moments in the partnership between investors and founders. This is one of the advantages of being very stage-specific and very thesis-driven. We are very comfortable with the sort of beast that an early-stage company is. It is never going to go as you plan or as you put in your powerpoint.
-Payal Divakaran
Yeah, that’s exactly it.
Browse the following show notes to find questions that might interest you:
4:20 The story of Spotrocket, the business Payal started while getting her MBA
11:15 Payal’s path to .406 & the focus of their investment interest
14:59 Why does .406 focus on the IT side, not the B2C side of digital health?
18:41 What aspect of .406’s healthcare thesis prompted them to invest in Redox when our first deal fell through?
21:50 How did the experience with that first health system shift Redox’s go to market strategy?
23:05 How has COVID changed .406’s theses?
26:50 Due to the underutilization of the healthcare system, and thus more economic flexibility, are payers more open to digital solutions?
30:19 What’s the big deal about recent .406 investment and early Redox customer AristaMD?
33:51 What current theses are Payal looking to validate? What areas of the market are most interesting to her?
36.35 How does one get in touch with Payal?
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