TechThrive Ventures Newsletter

2026 is here. Looking back, 2025 delivered surprises, challenges, and wins that kept us moving. This year is shaping up to be even bigger.

January marked a milestone. We hosted our first event at the 44th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco and the response from the Silicon Valley community exceeded every expectation.

With 600+ sign ups and 200+ attendees in the room, with founders, investors, and operators across health, longevity, and emerging tech, this level of engagement was a strong signal: the ecosystem is active, aligned, and ready to build.

What stood out wasn’t just the turnout, it was the depth of conversation.The conversation went beyond surface-level trends, focusing on the real constraints and opportunities shaping the future of this space.

Three LPs attended and requested follow-up meetings to discuss the fund. Two family offices expressed interest in anchor positions for our first close.

Key Takeaway

The conversation was not about why women's health matters. It was about how to build businesses that can win in this category. The next phase of healthcare innovation will be led by founders who can generate credible data, navigate reimbursement pathways, and scale solutions effectively.

The Power of a Thoughtful Audience
What impressed me most was the quality of questions from the room - thoughtful, direct, and grounded in real founder experience. Those conversations after the session are often where real learning happens, and where iconic founders can be spotted early long before they go on to build world-class companies.

Exciting Updates
We have moved from concept to action in just a few months. Early investor commitments are secured, including two family offices expressing interest in anchor positions following JPM Week. We are positioning for a first close in the coming months. Thank you for joining us on this journey from 0 to 1.

This validates what we have been seeing: investors recognize that emerging market infrastructure creates outsized value. No other fund is purpose-built to bridge U.S. consumer startups to the next billion consumers across emerging markets, that’s the white space we own.

This year, we’re engaging institutional investors and assembling our first cohort of early backers. If you’re interested in joining from the ground floor, I’d love to share our strategy and roadmap with you. Book a call with me here.

Industry Trends, I am tracking :

Biotech Beauty Emerges from GLP-1 Trend

Weight loss medications went mainstream in 2025. Side effects and post-treatment needs are spawning new product markets. Biotech beauty companies are building evidence-based topicals for body contouring, skin maintenance, and long-term support after GLP-1 therapy. Sable launched January15 from Columbia University Medical Center with backing from Turret Capital and SOSV to address this gap. This reflects growing consumer demand for scientifically validated beauty solutions that complement medical interventions.

AI Moving from Hype to Outcomes :
AI-driven consumer healthtech raised $7.5B in 2025, up 18% YoY, capturing 54% of all digital health funding ($14.2B total). Deal sizes averaged $29.3M, signaling that investors now prioritize measurable impact from preventive health to chronic condition management. AI is maturing, and results matter more than buzz.

Hybrid Care Models Replacing Virtual-Only Healthcare:

Virtual-only healthcare is giving way to hybrid models that combine in-person and digital care.Consumers want flexibility. Startups combining virtual and in-person services are raising larger rounds and scaling faster. Workforce demands and policy shifts favor integrated care over telehealth only solutions.

Lin Health raised $11M for a hybrid model treating chronic pain without opioids, combining virtual care, physical therapy, and behavioral health. Employers are adopting these platforms because outcomes are better and costs are lower.

Preventive Wellness Becoming Financial Infrastructure

Truemed raised $34M in December to let consumers use pre-tax dollars for preventive health and wellness purchases. This is infrastructure that makes wellness affordable and accessible through employer and merchant partnerships.The model is scaling nationally because it solves a real problem: the cost barrier to preventive health.

Pre-Seed Funding Environment

US pre-seed funding showed consistent activity from January-April 2025, with 82 rounds totaling $125M and averaging $1.52M per check. California dominated with 34 rounds totaling $59.10M. VCs predict overall deployment rising 10-25% in 2026, driven by AI maturation and larger fund sizes. This steady volume in pre-seed, combined with rising deployment predictions, creates favorable conditions for consumer health and wellness categories.

What’s Next in Consumer Space

January 2026 product launches emphasize longevity, hydration, and category expansions.

HYDRINITY expanded into body care with its Supercharged Hyaluronic Acid platform, launching the ENCORE Body Hydrator and RetaXome Daily Retinal Hydrator.

Founded in 2022 from regenerative medicine for wound care in oncology and hematology patients, HYDRINITY has become the fastest-growing US professional skincare brand by focusing on clinical-grade formulations with measurable results in 2 weeks.

HYDRINITY's clinical heritage provides credibility that pure-play beauty brands cannot replicate, and the professional channel advantage means the brand benefits from practitioner recommendations that drive higher conversion and retention compared to direct-to-consumer brands facing rising customer acquisition costs.

This signals that brands building ingredient platforms rather than standalone products can scale across multiple categories with superior unit economics.

First Aid Beauty: Event-Driven Marketing

First Aid Beauty partnered with Team USA for the 2026 Winter Olympics, supplying Ultra Repair Cream to Olympic and Paralympic athletes, featuring Jamie Anderson and Sydney Jo Peterson as brand ambassadors. The limited-edition Dry Skin Rescue Kit ($40) launched via Sephora, Amazon, and firstaidbeauty.com, marking the brand’s first Olympic activation under Procter & Gamble.

The partnership positions skincare as a functional wellness tool, leveraging extreme winter conditions for authentic product validation. It enhances visibility, credibility, and inclusivity while converting media attention into sales.

This reflects a broader marketing shift toward athlete partnerships, event-driven activation, and wellness-focused branding, offering emerging brands a blueprint for leveraging major cultural events.

CES 2026: Technology Defining the Future of Personalized Beauty

Tech integrations at CES 2026 showcased the future of personalized beauty, with innovations in infrared hair and skin technology signaling AI-driven customization in skincare and wellness products.

L'Oréal unveiled Cell BioPrint, a lab-on-a-chip device providing personalized skin analysis in 5 minutes, predicting aging and skin issues before they appear. Their HAPTA smart mirror uses AI to detect emotional reactions to makeup, recommending shades that maximize happiness.

AmorePacific introduced a generative AI, voice-activated beauty chatbot, and an AI Beauty Mirror that combines skin analysis, virtual try-ons, product recommendations, and smart home features.

Trends emerging from CES 2026 include: accessible diagnostic technology, AI personalization based on biological data, conversational interfaces, smart home integration, and emotional optimization.

Startups focusing on condition-specific diagnostics, affordable personalization, wearable integration, and emerging market adaptation are poised to shape the next generation of health and beauty brands.

FemTech India X Tesla I Powered by TechThrive

I’m hosting a private, curated gathering at Tesla SF this Friday, bringing together founders, investors, and healthcare leaders tackling the biggest challenges in health and women’s health. We will feature an exceptional panel of founders who have raised capital, launched products, acquired customers, and navigated the hard middle of company building sharing hard-won insights on how to scale in this sector.

I would love to see you. RSVP

I can’t wait to share more about where we are headed next in our February edition. Navneet

Know someone building in consumer space ? Forward this newsletter or introduce us. Got feedback or just want to connect, I’d love to hear.

Partnerships, connect here.