8 digital health unicorns to watch in 2021

Welcome to Business Insider's daily healthcare newsletter, your daily dose of pharma, biotech, and healthcare news. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday.

Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

Hello,

Two Democrats have won their Senate races in Georgia, giving the party control of the Senate. That means Democrats will have full control of the legislative branch when Joe Biden takes office.

Our politics team has a great breakdown of what that means for key issues on Biden's agenda, including healthcare. 

Also today in healthcare news: 8 newly minted digital-health unicorns, Amazon's sleep-tracking plans, and a vaccine loophole. 

---

Ro's offices.

Ro

The 8 digital health startups to watch that are changing healthcare in 2021

• VC funding for healthcare startups hit record levels in 2020 even before the year ended, according to data from analytics firm CB Insights.
• With such a favorable fundraising environment, many healthcare startups may have been able to raise funding more than once in less than a year, as was the case with healthcare AI startup Olive.
• In all, eight digital health startups achieved the $1 billion valuation milestone in 2020, according to Pitchbook data.

Read the full list from Megan Hernbroth here>>

---

Amazon previously rolled-out an Alexa-enabled microwave, among other products. Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon is quietly building a new Alexa device to help you sleep better

• Amazon is working on a new Alexa-enabled device that can track and monitor sleep apnea, Business Insider has learned.
• The device is expected to be contactless and use radar technology to track sleeping and breathing patterns, people familiar with the product said.
• Amazon's plans for a sleep-tracking device show the company continues to take a scattershot approach to its devices unit as it looks to make its Alexa voice assistant as ubiquitous as possible.

Read the full story from Eugene Kim here>>

---

A frontline healthcare worker receives a Moderna COVID-19 vaccination at the Park County Health Departments storefront clinic on January 5, 2021 in Livingston, Montana.

Photo by William Campbell/Getty Images

Young, healthy people have figured out a loophole to get the COVID vaccine without skipping the line

• Under state and government rules, a small subset of people, including healthcare workers and people living in nursing homes are first in line to get coronavirus vaccines.
• But pharmacies and hospitals are finding they have leftover shots at the end of the day, and the choice is either to toss them or give them to the next person who asks for them.
• Some health officials say leftover doses that'll otherwise expire can go to anyone who wants them.

Read the full story from Kimberly Leonard here>>

---

More stories we're reading:

---

- Lydia