On January 20, 2012, I was a speaker on the panel "Funding Mechanisms" at the Healthcare Innovation Summit in San Francisco.

The key takeaway are:

• There is a funding gap between the accelerators and the venture industry. HealthTech capital is a new Angel group that specializes in bridging that gap in digital health.
• Companies in digital health need three sets of expertise: understanding of healthcare environment, leveraging of mobile technology platforms, engaging and retaining consumers. Early-stage startups in this field are usually missing one or two of these skill sets and require heavy mentoring from experts or Angels in these areas to develop a scalable revenue model.
• The NIH is offering grants in the digital health area that entrepreneurs can access.
• The FDA is revising its mobile health guidelines to allow innovations by modifying the accessory rules and the requirement for software driven applications.

All in all, this is a good time to start a company in digital health!