StartUp Health Announces Type 1 Diabetes Program-Related Investment by the Helmsley Charitable…

StartUp Health Announces Type 1 Diabetes Program-Related Investment by the Helmsley Charitable Trust

T1D innovators and funders are invited to collaborate on a bold new health moonshot to commercialize and scale T1D innovation.

StartUp Health announced today a program-related investment (PRI) by The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to provide education, support, and investment to scientists, entrepreneurs, and innovators who are building companies that have promising, but unproven, approaches for the prevention, management, and cure of T1D. The PRI is part of StartUp Health’s T1D Moonshot, a bold new initiative to organize entrepreneurs, innovators, philanthropists, institutions, industry leaders, and families in order to collaborate to develop and scale breakthrough T1D innovation.

With this new philanthropic funding, the Helmsley Charitable Trust builds on a legacy of support for improving care and health outcomes for the T1D community, with over $1 billion committed to T1D research and patient support since Helmsley’s inception. This PRI in StartUp Health is another example of Helmsley’s support for T1D research and innovation and early-stage entrepreneurship.

“There is no shortage of early-stage innovators with bold ideas that could lead to better management of T1D or to prevention,” said Sean Sullivan, a Program Officer at the Helmsley Charitable Trust. “There is, however, a shortage of funding for those ideas, as well as the know-how to get them to market. Like so much of Helmsley’s work, our investment in StartUp Health’s unique collaborative environment aims to help bridge these gaps and accelerate progress for the T1D community.”

StartUp Health’s T1D Moonshot is a collaborative, cross-disciplinary initiative for helping the global T1D community live safer, better, and more fulfilling lives today while funding transformative advancements in research and technology. The T1D Moonshot focuses on addressing the global burden of T1D, which is increasing despite recent advances in health technology.

Globally, more than 18 million people have T1D, and people with T1D and their families face many complex challenges navigating the condition. More than 70% of people living with T1D do not have their blood glucose under control, which can increase their risk of diabetic complications like cardiac disease, diabetic retinopathy, kidney failure, neuropathy, and gum disease. Access to insulin and medical devices that deliver insulin and monitor sugar levels are expensive and not available consistently across socio-economic and geographic groups. A shortage of endocrinologists and diabetes specialists compounds these challenges.

“We are in a crisis given the growth in cases of diabetes and the human and economic cost to society,” said David Weingard, Chief Impact Officer of StartUp Health’s T1D Moonshot. “The diabetes landscape needs to accelerate and scale innovation to care for the growing T1D population in order to improve health and reduce the growing economic burden across patients and their families, health plans, government, employers, and society.”

With Helmsley’s philanthropic support, 25 to 30 promising, early-stage T1D startups may be selected by StartUp Health to participate for three years in the T1D track of Health Transformer University, StartUp Health’s education program for healthcare innovators. This entrepreneurial mastery program and lifelong learning community is for ambitious founders and funders who are working together to solve the biggest health challenges of our time. The T1D Fellowship program is built on StartUp Health’s 12 years of experience helping to build and scale nearly 500 health innovation companies across 29 countries. The T1D Fellowship is specifically tailored to help entrepreneurs and innovators build capacity, including through attracting mission-aligned capital to pursue scientific discoveries in the field of Type 1 diabetes. It offers the tools, networks, and visibility needed to transform breakthrough T1D innovation into real and positive impact. The multi-year program is designed to help promising companies focused on T1D innovation to level up at every stage of growth, from research and development to commercialization and scale.

“It will take the passion and commitment of a global army of Health Transformers to solve the myriad of challenges facing people and families living with T1D,” said Steven Krein, StartUp Health’s CEO and Co-founder. “We invite all innovators, entrepreneurs, and funders to join us in our mission to prevent, manage, and cure T1D.”

“The big differentiator for this partnership is Health Transformer University,” said Robert Oringer, an active angel investor in T1D innovation and member of the T1D Moonshot Impact Board. “I’ve never seen an experienced organization offer this kind of formalized, long-term education and support to founders. Add the fact that it’s catalyzed by the Helmsley Charitable Trust and the potential is spectacular.”

“We are deeply grateful to the Helmsley Charitable Trust for their program-related investment, and honored by the extraordinary leaders who have joined our T1D Impact Board who are signaling to the world that it’s time to be bolder and that collaboration is the way to make leap-frog progress,” said Unity Stoakes, President & Co-founder of StartUp Health. “This is a call to action. Together we will supercharge a generation of extraordinary innovators and entrepreneurs to drive transformative impact.”

StartUp Health’s T1D Moonshot intends to address this growing challenge through collaboration, education and broad-based investment in entrepreneurs and startups. The T1D Moonshot is guided by a world-class impact board including leading diabetes thought leaders, clinicians, philanthropists, industry leaders, patients and families including David Panzirer, Trustee of Helmsley Charitable Trust; Mike Mason, SVP and President of Eli Lilly Diabetes; Aaron Kowalski, PhD, CEO of JDRF; Claudia Graham, PhD, MPH, Former SVP of Global Access at Dexcom and Board of Directors at JDRF; Jennifer Sherr, MD, PhD, Professor at Yale School of Medicine; Robert Oringer, Chairman of Locemia Solutions; Sarah Oltmans, Chief of Grant Strategy at Robin Hood; Norma S. Kenyon, PhD, Deputy Director of the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI) and CIO of University of Miami School of Medicine; Albert Tzeel, MD, Regional Vice President at Humana. StartUp Health’s T1D Moonshot is led by Chief Impact Officer David Weingard.

Call for T1D Innovation

Are you a scientist or innovator focused on T1D innovation who would benefit from education about how to navigate and build a company that will be successful in attracting mission-aligned capital, customers, and collaborators to pursue scientific discoveries in the field of Type 1 Diabetes? Learn more and apply for one of the first 25 T1D Fellowships here.

Become a Health Moonshot Champion

Health moonshots are fueled by passionate families, foundations and industry organizations committed to achieving health moonshots. Learn how you can join other champions of the T1D Moonshot or one of our 14 global health moonshots by contacting us at moonshots@startuphealth.com.

About The Helmsley Charitable Trust

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust aspires to improve lives by supporting exceptional efforts in the U.S. and around the world in health and select place-based initiatives. Since beginning active grantmaking in 2008, Helmsley has committed more than $3.5 billion for a wide range of charitable purposes. The Helmsley Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) Program is the largest private foundation funder in the world with a focus on T1D, with more than $1 billion to date committed to transform the trajectory of the disease and to accelerate access to 21st century care, everywhere. For more information on Helmsley and its programs, visit helmsleytrust.org.

About StartUp Health

StartUp Health is the first and only global health innovation ecosystem dedicated to achieving health moonshots. Since 2011, StartUp Health has inspired, educate and invested in nearly 500 health innovation companies across 29 countries, making it the most active investor in early-stage health innovation. StartUp Health is backed by world-class investors including Steve Case, Mark Cuban, Esther Dyson, Brad Feld, Lee Shapiro, Glen Tullman, Advocate Aurora Health, Chiesi, Guidewell, Kaiser Permanente, Masimo, Novartis, and Otsuka. To learn more about its health moonshot model and its global community of portfolio companies like Cityblock Health, Devoted Health, Quit Genius, and Virta Health visit startuphealth.com.

Investors: Contact us to learn how you can invest in Health Transformers and Health Moonshots.

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