Women VCs, Vaxi Taxis, Nuclear Backsies 🚕

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The Rosy Picture of Vaccine Taxis

The business of mobile vaccination may be picking up, thanks to a certain fighter and pioneer. 

Vaxi Taxi provides a critical service: home delivery and administration of any FDA-approved adult vaccine and most pediatric ones. Villhauer, the CEO and founder, describes the startup as “the Uber Eats of vaccines".

  • Customers—or, in this case, patients—order the vaccine they need online from VaxiTaxi.com.
  • For a flat delivery fee, starting at $60 and depending on how far the pharmacist must travel, a pharmacist/immunizer brings the shot right to patients’ doors and into their arms.


A Lifeline for Drug Stores

For years, indie drugstores have struggled under the crushing restrictions of pharmacy benefit managers. They force beneficiaries to literally drive past the local drug store and get prescriptions filled at a major chain (no matter how far away) or through mail-order services. 

From 2003 to 2018, rural America lost 16% of its independent pharmacies. That’s some 1,230 drugstores in areas where the next pharmacy, or even the next health care provider, could be more than an hour’s drive away. According to the Rural Policy Research Institute, some 630 rural communities that had at least one drug store in 2003 had none by 2018.

Seeing the state of local pharma, Villhauer enlisted independent pharmacies across the rural counties and trained their pharmacists to administer at-home shots. At a time when mom-and-pop drug stores are fighting to stay open throughout rural America, the partnership with Vaxi Taxi provided some much-needed cash flow. 

The Future of Mobile Vaccines

Home health isn’t an area that pharmacists have traditionally ventured into because;

  1. it isn’t reimbursed well.
  2. Plus, pharmacists’ authority or legality to deliver health care services varies from state to state making it difficult to expand business. 

However, less than a year after Vaxi Taxi made its maiden voyage, COVID-19 vaccines became widely available without any state-specific restrictions. With the pandemic generating a client base willing to pay cash for vaccines brought to their homes, mobile vans offered rural drugstores a new way to meet that demand.

The entire business idea of mobile vaccines is to make shots more accessible in rural areas where nearest medical centres are hours away and local drugstores are helpless and cash-strapped.



Women Say Bye to VC Houses

Over the past year, numerous notable women investors have left their roles at established firms to launch funds of their own. From Katie Haun spinning out of Andreessen Horowitz to Sydney Thomas leaving Precursor Ventures to, most recently, Sarah Guo moving on from Greylock, we are amid a wave of new emerging women managers.

There isn’t one specific reason why so many women have chosen this path this year, but rather a multitude of possible catalysts.

For one, some women may spin out because the rigid structure of traditional venture firms and succession strategies may prevent VCs from moving up into more prominent roles. Only 14.3% of check writers are women and well over half of venture funds still don’t have a woman partner — but probably women in other roles — according to industry nonprofit All Raise.

Second, more women feel comfortable taking the plunge now than in the past because they can point to women who have done it before.

There are case studies of women who have been successful in leaving well-established firms to pursue and create their own venture funds. So it’s no longer the fear of the unknown.

Recent examples include Mary Meeker and Katie Haun. Meeker, who left Kleiner Perkins in 2019 to launch Bond - a firm that has since grown to more than $5 billion in AUM. 

And third, the fundraising numbers for women-led VC firms also currently look pretty good. According to data from PitchBook, women-led firms have raised $3 billion so far this year. That compares to $3.8 billion in 2021 and $1.8 billion in 2020.



Backsies on "Caring for the Climate" 

Countries around the world are putting scrapped nuclear energy plans back on the table. They're reconsidering the cost-benefit of nuclear energy. Reasons: soaring fossil fuel prices, a European natural gas crisis, and the realities of climate change.

Here’s a quick rundown on countries that are reentering the nuclear energy game.

  • The Netherlands plans to build its first nuclear plant since 1973.
  • The UK is constructing a nuclear power plant to power 6 million homes.
  • Egypt is building its first nuclear reactor, in partnership with Russia.
  • Japan is restarting idled nuclear power plants 11 years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
  • France is nationalizing energy giant EDF to boost its nuclear energy industry.
  • The US announced $6 billion to keep nuclear plants open.


Creators and our Economy

Kukuwa Kyereboah, a dance teacher of 40 years, and an ACE-certified trainer, realized she could help others achieve their fitness goals, while sharing the richness of her native African culture with her community in the US. She created a high-energy fitness program using African dance to target muscles other dance programs did not. She first started posting classes on YouTube in 2015. The unique program was an instant success with American audiences. 

Just like Kukuwa, there are thousands of creators on YouTube spreading their knowledge and services worldwide. Over the years, YouTube has helped creators and entrepreneurs build businesses, learn new skills, and earn revenue from their videos. 

Recently, Oxford Economics released an analysis on the State of the Creator Economy specifically highlighting the importance of YouTube. 

Here are its findings.

  • YouTube’s creative ecosystem contributed more than $25 billion to the American economy and supported more than 425,000 full-time equivalent jobs in 2021. 
  • 85% of SMBs agree that YouTube played a role in helping them grow their customer base by reaching new audiences 
  • 79% of SMBs agree that YouTube is a cost-effective way of providing staff training.


Shorts ⏳
The Korean Long Game - North Koreans are stealing LinkedIn resumes to get hired and then pilfer cryptocurrency companies to aid the government.

Alien Pets -  A respected Polish scientific institute classified cats as an “alien species,” citing the damage they cause to birds and other wildlife.

Disney is Cool, Okay - Disney changed Hulu policies to accept political issues ads, after backlash over rejection of abortion and gun law ads.

The Negative Record - Facebook reported a drop in its revenue for the first time ever. Although it's just 1%. 

Such is Inflation - The first food-carrying ship to leave Ukraine since Russia’s invasion is set to ease global prices.

Freely Editing Recession - Wikipedia's page about "Recessions" was edited 180 times in the last week, causing the company to block further edits. 


Stash Recommends: Tools to Explore
🎍 SeedpodThe best lead-generating tool that is a great landing page builder on the market for different types of businesses.

QuoraOne of the most popular online platforms which has become the main destination for a lot of people to ask and answer questions.

🏀 UnbounceFeaturing one of the best drag-and-drop builders in the game, Unbounce puts all the emphasis on landing pages that bring conversions.

🏊‍♀️ Slush Pool: Originally known as Bitcoin.cz Mining, this is the oldest and first known publicly available crypto mining pool.


 
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