Latest news with #Tennr
Forbes
17-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How Bold Marketing Is Helping VC-Backed Startups Stand Out And Scale
A stylized rocket launching in an abstract environment, surrounded by vibrant colors. As the rocket ... More takes off, it emits pink smoke and spheres against a contrasting purple background. The rocket signifies the initiation and progress of startups, emerging cryptocurrencies, and new business establishments, representing the concept of growth and the potential of innovative ideas. The world of venture-backed startups is fast-paced, high-pressure, and often unpredictable. Founders and teams juggle everything from fundraising and investor meetings to product pivots and relentless execution—often with little sleep and even less certainty. But beyond the spreadsheets and pitch decks lies a powerful (and often underrated) force: creativity. Some of today's most innovative startups aren't just disrupting industries with their products—they're also pushing boundaries in how they market themselves. From bold brand storytelling to guerrilla marketing, these recent campaigns by VC-backed startups prove that smart, edgy marketing can be very impactful. These three companies show that while traditional campaigns may feel outdated to some, in the right hands, they can become extraordinary. 'We didn't want to add to the AI noise. We wanted to make people laugh.' In an era where AI startups flood the market with technical jargon and indistinguishable messaging, Tennr — an AI-powered platform automating referral-based care — chose a refreshingly bold path: humor. 'Marketing is critical for tech companies today, especially given the AI boom we're experiencing. 'AI-powered' and 'Agentic AI' startups are saturating the market, and every company is starting to sound the same. We didn't want to contribute to that noise,' says Mia Vandermeer, Content & Brand Marketing Manager at Tennr. Fresh off a $101 million Series C led by IVP, with backing from Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed, GV, ICONIQ, Foundation Capital, and Frank Slootman, the company has tripled its revenue since its Series B and processed millions of patients through its referral orchestration platform. But instead of leaning into AI buzzwords, Tennr launched its first-ever ad campaign with an unlikely star — the fax machine. Cheekily titled Fax It, the campaign embraces the legacy of fax in healthcare with wit and self-awareness: 'If you can't beat the fax, embrace it — and make it smarter.' 'We didn't want to add to the AI noise. We wanted to make people laugh,' says Vandermeer. The campaign, intentionally crafted without generative AI, relied on human creativity to build emotional connection and brand personality — rebellious, self-deprecating, approachable, and fun. The result? 'It worked,' Mia shares. 'The campaign sparked organic buzz, resonated with healthcare professionals, and helped Tennr stand out in a crowded B2B environment often criticized for being dry.' Kegs for Pregs from Liquid Death Just over a year ago, Liquid Death — a canned water company known for its rebellious branding — closed a $67 million funding round at a $1.4 billion valuation, bringing its total venture backing to more than $267 million. Notably, this success comes in a category many investors tend to avoid: beverages. With that kind of complexity, you have no choice but to stand out — and that's where marketing comes in. The company's bold strategy recently took shape in a campaign that turned heads and defied norms. 'It started with a true insight — hydration is even more important during pregnancy,' explains Dan Murphy, SVP of Marketing at Liquid Death. The 'Kegs for Pregs' campaign concept focused on promoting hydration during pregnancy by featuring visibly pregnant influencer Kylie Kelce — creator and host of the Not Gonna Lie podcast — in a playful Irish pub setting, accompanied by a festive soundtrack. The campaign was timed to launch around St. Patrick's Day for maximum cultural relevance and impact. 'At the time of filming, Kylie was actually seven months pregnant and a genuine, big fan of our mountain water,' Murphy says. 'Ultimately, the campaign's more than 3 billion earned media impressions, along with exclusivity on her podcast, did a great job hitting our goal of informing head-of-household moms about Liquid Death.' Give Us the Finger with Oura Ring Oura, the Finnish health tech company known for the Oura Ring—a smart ring used to track sleep and physical activity—has emerged as a category-defining force in wearable wellness. In 2024, the company reached a $5.2 billion valuation following a $200 million Series D funding round, with participation from major investors including Fidelity Management and Dexcom. Now, Oura is pushing beyond performance metrics and into cultural conversation with its latest brand campaign and national TV spot. 'Aging isn't the enemy—it's the aspiration,' says Doug Sweeny, Chief Marketing Officer at Oura. The campaign challenges conventional narratives by reframing aging not as a decline, but as something to strive for. 'This campaign invites people into a thoughtful conversation around health—empowering them to take proactive ownership of their wellbeing at every stage of life,' Sweeny adds. Celebrating both the iconic design of the Oura Ring and its precise placement on the index finger, the campaign is an invitation to wear your commitment—to live fully, age intentionally, and take control of your health across every chapter. Why This Matters In a world where attention is currency and brand trust drives adoption, storytelling is a strategic asset. These campaigns show a different approach—one where creativity isn't an afterthought, it's a differentiator. Each of these brands harnessed marketing not just to promote a product, but to articulate a worldview. In doing so, they didn't just earn impressions—they earned emotional equity. For founders, the message is clear: what you build matters, but how you communicate it might matter even more. Companies that can craft a compelling narrative—and make people feel something—are more likely to rise above the noise, win loyalty, and own the category conversation.
Cision Canada
30-06-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
AI Is Quietly Reinventing Healthcare--And Real Deployments Are Now Underway
Issued on behalf of Avant Technologies Inc. VANCOUVER, BC, June 30, 2025 /CNW/ -- Several experts are seeing that value of AI's total overhaul of healthcare, including beneficial additions such as generative AI apps demonstrating real value. The next wave of AI's healthcare transformation is already taking shape—led by intelligent agents, next-gen diagnostics, and predictive drug discovery platforms. Behind the scenes, a new class of innovators is making tangible progress, with companies like Avant Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB: AVAI), Tempus Ai, Inc. (NASDAQ: TEM), OmniAb, Inc. (NASDAQ: OABI), Tevogen Bio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: TVGN), and Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: RXRX). ResearchAndMarkets projects the AI medical diagnostics market to surge to $46.59 billion by 2034, driven by a blistering 33.72% CAGR. Private equity firms believe 2025 could eclipse 2024 as the biggest year yet for AI-powered health tech. Recent raises include $300 million for Abridge (AI medical transcription), $101 million for Tennr (automated patient referrals), and $45 million for Ellipsis Health, which is developing emotionally intelligent AI for mental health. Meanwhile, in the public markets, several companies are moving beyond hype with real-world AI deployments already underway. Avant Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB: AVAI) and joint-venture partner Ainnova Tech are preparing for a pivotal milestone: their pre-submission meeting with the U.S. FDA, scheduled for July 7. This session will shape the clinical pathway for Vision AI, the companies' flagship disease-screening platform, as they seek 510(k) clearance for U.S. marketing approval—a move that could unlock major commercial potential. With experienced regulatory advisors and a global CRO, Fortrea, assisting in final preparations, the team is aiming for an efficient regulatory process that leads to large-scale diabetic screening capabilities across the U.S. "We're approaching a key milestone," said Vinicio Vargas, CEO at Ainnova and a member of the Board of Directors of Ai-nova Acquisition Corp. (AAC), the company formed by the partnership between Avant and Ainnova to advance and commercialize Ainnova's technology portfolio. "We've been preparing thoroughly with the support of an experienced CRO and expert regulatory advisors, and we're optimistic about the outcome. Diabetic retinopathy is the number one cause of preventable blindness worldwide. That's unacceptable—and we believe technology can change that. But this is just the beginning. Retinal screening offers a gateway to detecting many systemic conditions early—like Alzheimer's, cardiovascular disease, and more." Avant's broader diabetes push is now entering a critical phase. It has signaled intentions to launch a standalone company to develop a potential treatment for diabetes, complementing its screening and detection suite. This would streamline its structure by integrating data, IP, and leadership under one roof, eliminating the holding-company inefficiencies currently in place. Over 30% of those living with diabetes will develop diabetic retinopathy, a disease that can be prevented with an accurate diagnosis. More recently, Avant and joint-venture partner Ainnova Tech have begun offering free Vision AI scans inside Grupo Dökka's Fischel and La Bomba pharmacy chains. Avant's Vision AI platform uses retinal imaging and artificial intelligence to rapidly detect diabetic retinopathy and other retinal diseases, as well as systemic conditions like fatty liver, chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular risk. The team is finalizing a low-cost, cloud-connected retinal camera that could operate in clinics and rural settings without specialist staff. And with new disease modules in the pipeline—including a blood test-linked dementia screening tool— Avant is steadily building out a scalable, multi-condition platform designed to close the loop between early detection and timely intervention. "We're committed to pushing the boundaries of preventive care, improving both life expectancy and quality of life for people around the world," added Vargas. "That's the mission behind everything we do." Recently, Avant signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire 100% of Ainnova Tech —bringing leadership, data, and intellectual property together ahead of a scheduled FDA pre-submission meeting in July. Folding the joint venture into a single public entity would remove the current holding-company structure, streamlining everything from regulatory filings to revenue recognition. Tempus Ai, Inc. (NASDAQ: TEM) is expanding its clinical impact through the validated performance of the CARE Program, a digital health platform from its subsidiary Ambry Genetics. Published data shows the tool identifies hereditary cancer risk with 99.5% accuracy by interpreting NCCN Guidelines—simplifying complex decision-making for non-specialist clinicians. "CARE offers healthcare systems a quality, end-to-end solution that transforms how they identify the need for, implement, and scale genetic testing," said Tom Schoenherr, CEO of Ambry Genetics. "Because clinicians can trust CARE's comprehensive history collection and accurate risk assessment, they can feel confident expanding access to genetic services, improving outcomes for more patients, and making genetic testing a seamless part of their patient care and population health strategies." The system integrates directly with EHRs and collects patient histories via mobile devices, flagging those eligible for further genetic testing or enhanced screening. This marks another step forward in Tempus' mission to make AI-powered precision medicine more accessible, scalable, and proactive. OmniAb, Inc. (NASDAQ: OABI) unveiled new case studies demonstrating the power of its xPloration® platform—an AI-driven, high-throughput B-cell screening system that accelerates therapeutic antibody discovery. "Thorough mining of primary B-cells from immunized animals presents a major challenge in therapeutic antibody discovery," said Dr. Bob Chen, Ph.D., Vice President, Discovery Systems, who gave the presentation, titled xPloration: Simplifying Deep Antibody Mining for Maximum Impact. "Traditional methods often restrict antibody diversity and require weeks to complete. In contrast, the xPloration platform processes millions of single B-cells and recovers thousands of antibody variants within hours, achieving impactful results." The platform boosts both speed and diversity, giving partners a powerful edge in mining immune repertoires, and boosts the effectiveness of discovery programs by screening 10 times more single cells per day than other spatial separation techniques. Tevogen Bio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: TVGN) is advancing development of an EBV-specific T cell therapy using its proprietary ExacTcell™ platform, with AI playing a central role in target selection. "The mechanisms behind EBV-induced tumorigenesis, which includes the disruption of cellular pathways and the promotion of malignant growth by EBV proteins, have become increasingly clear in recent years," said Neal Flomenberg, MD, Chief Scientific Officer of Tevogen Bio. "Targeting these proteins with highly specific CTLs presents an exciting research frontier and the potential for meaningful therapeutic breakthroughs in EBV-driven cancers." The company's internal AI division, is helping identify immunologically active peptides across the Epstein-Barr virus genome to guide cytotoxic T lymphocyte development. This program could open the door to a new class of precision-engineered cell therapies for virus-induced cancers. Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: RXRX) and MIT have open-sourced Boltz-2, a next-generation biomolecular AI model that predicts both structure and binding affinity with unprecedented accuracy and speed. Trained on Recursion's NVIDIA -powered BioHive-2 supercomputer, Boltz-2 delivers near–free energy perturbation accuracy—at 1000x faster speeds—making it a breakthrough in AI-enabled drug discovery. "Selecting the right molecules early is one of the most fundamental challenges in drug discovery, with implications for whether R&D programs succeed or fail," said Najat Khan, Chief R&D Officer and Chief Commercial Officer at Recursion. "Collaborations like this, bridging academic innovation and industry application, play an important role in advancing the field and, ultimately, improving how we develop and deliver medicines for patients." The platform could drastically reduce time and cost barriers in virtual screening workflows across pharma and biotech. CONTACT: Equity Insider [email protected] (604) 265-2873 DISCLAIMER: Nothing in this publication should be considered as personalized financial advice. We are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular financial situation. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed as personalized financial advice. Please consult a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decision. 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Associated Press
28-02-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Tennr Welcomes Bruna Dos Santos as Industry Expert to Drive DME Innovation
NEW YORK, Feb. 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Tennr, the intelligent automation platform for healthcare operations, today announced the appointment of Bruna Dos Santos as Industry Expert. With nearly a decade of healthcare experience, eight of those focused on the Durable Medical Equipment (DME) industry, Dos Santos will play a key role in advancing Tennr's impact in the DME space. Dos Santos joins Tennr after leading national programs and operations in the DME sector, including the development and expansion of a national breast pump program. She has held leadership roles spanning operations, sales, and training, where she specialized in developing leaders and introducing new product lines to seasoned sales teams. 'I'm joining because I've always been passionate about making processes as efficient as possible and have been envious of the innovation that other divisions of healthcare have seen over the years,' said Dos Santos. 'Tennr has opened a whole new world of possibilities for the DME industry, and I'm eager to be a part of it. I'm hoping to help Tennr reach new heights by bringing knowledge of DME intricacies and nuances to our architectures and product development.' 'Bruna just absolutely gets Tennr and lives and breathes DME. I met her when she was actually speaking at a great conference about running efficient DME operations and then after working with her as a customer it was just obvious she would be able to help us bring so many best practices to providers across the country,' said Trey Holterman, CEO of Tennr. 'Her firsthand knowledge will be instrumental as we continue to refine our platform to better serve the DME industry.' This appointment comes as Tennr continues to expand its footprint in DME, following its recent $37M Series B raise in October led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. About Tennr Tennr is a New York City-based healthcare technology company dedicated to eliminating patient delays throughout the U.S. healthcare system. Founded by Stanford classmates and Y Combinator alumni, Tennr has raised over $60M from investors including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The company's intelligent automation platform accelerates patient throughput, helping healthcare providers deliver more timely and effective care without adding resources.
