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FORTUNE.COM // JULY 2019
REVIEW
VENTURE
THE TRUFFLE
UNDERGROUND
A GANG of thieves
speeds away in get-
away cars along
tree-lined French
roads in the dead
of night with the
local police giving
chase. But these
crooks haven’t stolen
jewels, artwork, or
even drugs. They’ve
poached truffles.
Who knew fungi
could cause so much
drama? As investiga-
tive reporter Ryan
Jacobs unearths in
The Truffle Under-
ground (Clarkson
Potter), the truffle
supply chain is a
dangerous, some-
times lethal business
involving fraud,
sabotage, and animal
cruelty. Jacobs puts
the reader in the
foxhole with French
investigators as they
seek to pin down who
is running the crime
ring, making the book
both a full-fledged
mystery and an
exposé about a luxury
delicacy whose price
is far higher than you
ever imagined.
—RACHEL KINGTHE DIGITAL HEALTH funding fever is far
from breaking. Venture funding for
digital health firms around the world hit an all-time
high of $14.6 billion in 2018, according to a new
report from StartUp Health, marking the eighth
consecutive year of investment growth. In the U.S.
alone, health startups raked in a record $8.1 billion,
according to a separate report from Rock Health.
That number was just
$1.1 billion in 2011.
The money is
flowing to companies
developing every-
thing from mobile
apps that seek to
simplify insurance
or help users keep
track of key health
biometrics, to devices
capable of conduct-
ing FDA- approved
electrocardiograms
(EKGs) in the home
or on the go.
While most start-
ups in the space have
remained private to
date, the public will
soon be able to get a
piece of the action. A
slew of digital health
IPOs are expected
in the second half of
2019 from diabetes
management firm
Livongo, health data
firm Health Cata-
lyst, and technology
intermediary Change
Healthcare. Not to
mention the high-
end exercise platform
Peloton, which re-
cently filed confiden-
tial IPO documents.
Even if some of
these early tests of
the public markets
sputter, the general
buzz in the space will
almost certainly last.
For technologists and
their funders, solving
the mysteries of the
human body, and
the U.S. health care
system, remains an
irresistible challenge.Withings’ BPM Core
and Move ECG are
both FDA-pending as
electrocardiograms.Temperature Rises
on Digital Health
Health care is headed for the cloud. Digital
health tech investment is nearing the moon.
By Sy Mukherjee
AliveCor’s KardiaMobile 6L
goes far beyond the
capabilities of wrist-based
EKG devices.