Designer Fund + Health
We invest up to $1 million in Pre-seed to Series A companies committed to improving health for all people. We help them create a world-class product and brand, hire exceptional design talent, and close more investors.
Designing for Health
From human factors engineering to healthcare service design, the design and health partnership has always been a key aspect in improving health outcomes and patient experience. At Designer Fund, we believe that design will continue to play a role in not just shaping, but redefining how we approach healthcare. Health companies are using design to:
- Reduce complexity to give agency back to individuals
- Rethink archaic systems to improve efficiency
- Build for trust and compassion
We co-invest with the top funds that are focused on health solutions.
Design reduces complexity to give agency back to individuals
Managing our health is challenging enough, and everything about the healthcare system is just as complex. Design can create tools that help simplify everything from navigating insurance complexities to finding the right care option.
For example, accessing care for many common but potentially sensitive conditions like weight management or sexual health traditionally requires multiple in-person appointments. Ro redesigned this experience to enable telehealth visits from the privacy of a patient’s home, using data collected along the way and providing care access at any time through chat. This lowers the friction for patients to obtain personalized support while also taking on the burden of understanding the system. This approach does more than just simplify the experience—it empowers individuals to take control of their health journey.
At Ro, we offer healthcare that fits into a patient’s life, not the other way around. We prioritize this by spending an inordinate amount of energy and resources to measure and track patient health and life outcomes quantitatively and qualitatively to better inform the patient experience.Saman Rahmanian, Co-founder and CPO of Ro
Design rethinks archaic systems to expand access
Design is playing a role in revolutionizing healthcare access by transforming traditional systems into digital-first solutions. From accessing all your health records in one place to streamlining the process of finding specialized care, design empowers users to navigate previously archaic systems with more ease.
Beaming Health has found that it's too hard for families to find insurance-covered care for their kids. The root cause of this: insurance is too much of a headache for providers to deal with, so most don't take it. They believe this can be solved with great design. They've designed a portal that makes getting paid from an insurance client indistinguishable from getting paid for a cash-pay client. They've eliminated the archaic billing processes as well as the uncertainty around if/when they will get paid. The result: providers are starting to accept insurance in droves and they are saying they now actually enjoy billing insurance. And the result of this is kids who would otherwise not get care are finally getting it.
Design is playing a role in revolutionizing healthcare access by transforming traditional systems into digital-first solutions. From accessing all your health records in one place to streamlining the process of finding specialized care, design empowers users to navigate previously archaic systems with more ease.Chris Olmanson, Co-Founder of Beaming Health
Design builds tools for trust and empathy
Healthcare is deeply human, and design is a tool that puts empathy and understanding at its core. While seeking care online might seem impersonal at first, the right design decisions can help instill confidence and trust into a fundamentally intimate experience.
August Health exemplifies this ethos through their mission to improve senior care. The team at August Health created an operating platform that allows senior care centers to transition smoothly to a more streamlined and digitized system. On top of replacing hours of manual paperwork, August built a portal for family members to access the care team, manage care options, and gain visibility into data-informed health trends, instilling trust that their loved ones are being cared for.
We knew from day one that design would be a major differentiator in an industry that's been underserved by technology for so long. We can almost fully attribute our success to the work we do to truly understanding our users and their goals.Erez Cohen, Co-Founder of August Health
Applications are now open for Designer Fund Partnership, the best design support and investment offer of up to $1 million for Pre-seed to Series A startups. Apply here by October 4, 2024.
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