Yuvo Health expands value-based care to Federally Qualified Health Centers in Ohio, scaling beyond New York with My Community Health Center

Yuvo Health, a leading technology, operational, and administrative solution uniquely designed to give Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) an advantage in value-based care, has entered the Ohio market, starting with its partnership with My Community Health Center, a not-for-profit, primary care health center which serves all patients regardless of their ability to pay. Significantly, as Ohio Medicaid implements its new “Next Gen” managed care program, this agreement becomes one of the state’s first examples of a value-based contract for an FQHC that intentionally moves towards downside risk.

Learn more here

Rachel Renock, CEO and Co-Founder of Wethos, Joins FireNation Podcast to Discuss Changing the Game for Freelancers

The podcast episode "Redefining Independence: Changing the Game for Freelancers with Rachel Renock" from November 9, 2023, focuses on the advancements and challenges in the freelance industry. Rachel Renock, the Co-Founder and CEO of Wethos, a platform designed to assist freelancers in better managing and pricing their projects, shares her insights. Wethos supports over 80,000 freelance businesses, and Renock has successfully raised over $14M in VC funding. Her work has been recognized in Forbes, TechCrunch, Business Insider, and the New York Times.

Check out the podcast here

Navigating the VC Jumble

2023 has been one of the more unusual years of our team’s collective investing experience. Despite its challenges, the current market plays positively to Laconia’s strengths of patient due diligence, sober valuations, and active operationally oriented portfolio management.

The word “jumbled” comes to mind when describing the current venture landscape, particularly at the seed stage. Later stage rounds have succumbed to downward pricing pressure from the macro environment of higher interest rates, limited liquidity potential, and political uncertainty, both foreign and domestic. Cash preservation, breakeven operating objectives, and team efficiency are taking precedence over the “grow at all costs” mentality that had dominated the venture world during the past few years. 

Yet, seed stage financings remain on the high side, especially in the first half of the year. Some of this can be explained by the effect of the larger funds that had robustly entered the early stage. Pitchbook has a recent good summation of this:

Deal metrics have fallen for most VC stages since the market peaked in 2021, but one part of the US VC ecosystem bucked the trend: seed. The youngest companies’ valuations and deal sizes were propped up in large part by large investors whose participation at the stage exploded during the pandemic boom. Large investors accounted for more than a third of seed deal value in 2022, but their involvement at the stage is starting to recede. 

A larger driver of large rounds and high valuations may also be the declining deal counts at the pre-seed and seed stages: 

Regardless of causes, we know good deals are still out there, and we're willing to wait for the right ones. With new investments, we are as attentive as ever to the key milestones that they have to achieve, especially given the funding slowdown at Series A and beyond.

Despite best efforts, we know that the nature of the venture business is such that not all companies survive. We have a sober view of the challenges ahead and continue to work closely with all founders in our orbit on navigating the market turbulence.

We would like to add a word about AI, which we are seeing presented more and more in company pitches as well as within our own portfolio companies. Our portfolio founders have typically paid close attention to AI’s development for years. And our view is with the consensus: AI will be world changing-over the next 10+ years. New AI-enabled platforms will replace many of what will then be legacy software; the dynamic cycle of digital tech never stops, which much of our investment thesis is predicated upon.

Given the above, we are not avoiding investing in AI; rather, we are focused on AI’s value to customers vs. funding AI for AI's sake. The tech world seems to be at an inflection point similar to 2001-2004. The first phase of Web 1.0 during the 1990s built the infrastructure that Web 2.0 companies built upon after that period’s investment bubble burst.

History has shown that in tough times, iconic companies emerge and flourish: 

• Founded 1998-2004: Paypal, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Tesla, Tableau, Facebook 

• Founded 2007-2010: Airbnb, Dropbox, WhatsApp, Slack, Square, Uber, Stripe, Warby Parker, and many more. 

Despite the jumble, we are bullish. 

Rachel Renock, CEO of Wethos, Dives Deep into Conversations with Experts on the Leap Podcast

Looking for real stories and practical advice on how to take your career to the next level? Check out The Leap, our podcast dedicated to exploring the stories and strategies of successful entrepreneurs and how they started and scaled their independent businesses and agencies.

In each episode, CEO Rachel Renock dives deep into conversations with experts across a wide range of industries, from social media to creative, sharing valuable advice and hard-won lessons that will help you thrive as an independent professional.

Guests include Alex Fasulo (The Freelance Fairy), Jack Appleby (Future Social), and Tori Dunlap (Her First $100k). We've covered topics like building your brand, pricing strategies, finding your niche, and much more.

Listen to the podcast here

SportsRecruits Partners with Junior Volleyball Association to Power College Recruiting Efforts

The Junior Volleyball Association (JVA) recently announced its collaboration with SportsRecruits, the leading college recruiting network, to enhance the college recruiting efforts for its member organizations.

Under this partnership, JVA members will have preferred access to SportsRecruits’ comprehensive suite of technology products. Club directors and recruiting coordinators will harness the power of SportsRecruits to guide, advocate for, and empower their student-athletes in pursuing their dreams of playing at the collegiate level. Additionally, college coaches will benefit from the inclusion of JVA club organizations within the SportsRecruits network, providing a centralized platform for searching, evaluating, and recruiting talented student-athletes. SportsRecruits customers will access JVA’s resources and tools to build and maintain successful volleyball clubs, tournaments, and programs.

Learn more here