EarliTec Diagnostics just raised fresh capital to expand its system that helps clinicians diagnose children as young as 16 months old.
According to EarliTec, children with autism won’t focus on the video the same way that kids without autism will.
The Autism Impact Fund closed a $60 million fund, 20% higher than its $50 million target, this week.
Divergent Ventures raised a $10 million fund in 2021 that focuses on early-stage companies across the neurodiversity space.
Opya, a digital therapy platform for autism, has raised more than $19 million from backers including SoftBank’s Open Opportunity Fund.
Autism Impact Fund (AIF) was a pioneer when it emerged in 2021, three years after the son of its co-founder and managing partner, Chris Male, was diagnosed with ASD.
A joint effort of Male and others, its ambition was to become “the investment and innovation arm of the autism community,” Male told TechCrunch.
Since then, startups in the neurodiversity space gathered momentum, and so did AIF, which recently closed its first fund at $60 million.
AIF’s decision to broaden its scope has to do with autism itself, Male said.
It’s also global, with healthtech Genial Care raising $10 million to help kids with autism and their families in Brazil.
In a world where healthcare access is disproportionately skewed by geography and income, Forta Health raised a substantial round of funding to level the playing field a bit.
Forta defends its approach, saying it differs in some substantial ways from the ABA approaches from the bad old days.
Those are now very passé,” explains Christian Smith, co-founder and CMO at Forta Health, in an interview with TechCrunch.
Forta Health wants to ensure that those parents have professional support and training to be able to give higher-quality care.
Forta Health is exploring how to enhance family caregiving with technology, especially for chronic conditions and areas where the health system falls short.
