Le Studio Weekly
🧮 Numbers of the Week
**2032–**The year by which the U.S. Interior Department will phase out single-use plastic products on 480 million acres of public lands. The announcement is part of a broader package from the Biden administration to recognize World Ocean Day on June 8.
**800–**The estimated number of robots that will be used to help New York seniors through a partnership between the state Office for the Aging and Intuition Robotics, an Israel-based startup that developed a proactive care companion, ElliQ, that uses artificial intelligence to build relationships with seniors while supporting their health and well-being.
**$407,600–**The median price for an existing home in the U.S. in May, up slightly from the previous month and 14.8% from a year earlier. It’s a record going back to 1999, the National Association of Realtors said.
**39%**--U.S. President Joe Biden’s approval rating in early May, the lowest of his presidency so far. Only about two in 10 adults said that the nation is heading in the right direction or that the economy is good.
👥 Venture Capital
Agtech blooms with near-record funding in Q1 Macroeconomic events such as the war in Ukraine are exacerbating long-term challenges around food security, including a surge in prices for fertilizer and commodity crops. As agtech innovation becomes critical to boosting crop yields, PitchBook analysts list three factors that are driving robust venture capital momentum into agtech startups in 2022: increased concern for food security, data-driven productivity gains and environmentally friendly agricultural techniques such as carbon monitoring tools and biochemicals. Global agtech companies collected $3.3 billion across 222 deals, marking a 15.5% quarter-over-quarter increase in deal value.
SumUp settles for €8B valuations as fintech startups lower targets. SumUp's new €590 million funding round has raised the company's valuation to €8 billion—less than half the target the UK payments specialist was reportedly seeking earlier this year. The company isn't alone in its challenges, however. The new capital comes at a time when many startups, even in hot sectors such as fintech, are having to reconsider their valuation ambitions amid a tougher macro environment.
🏛️ Culture & Trends
Americans are really struggling with medical debt
In the US, 41% of American adults carry medical debt, according to research from Kaiser Health News and NPR. Some may not have appeared in past surveys or estimates due to how people deal with it — for example, 17% of people shuffle their debt to credit cards, while 21% pay over time directly to a provider.
How much debt are we talking?
The survey found that 42% owe $1k-$5k, while 24% owe more. What that feels like depends on each debtor’s situation, and those who are low-income, uninsured, Black, Hispanic, women, or parents are often hit hardest.
Eighteen percent of debtors fear they’ll never pay it off. And debt has branching effects:
48% of debtors say they’ve burned through their savings to pay down debt, and many put bills on credit cards, which rack up interest
1 in 7 debtors say they’ve been denied needed care due to unpaid bills
People who owe medical debt are 2x as likely to skip care
Many debtors have delayed college and homeownership, or have had issues buying a car or renting an apartment
What can be done to treat it?
Medical bills can often be shockingly high, even for the insured. In 2020, a woman went to an in-network center for surgery, but was surprised by a $2k bill because the anesthesiologist wasn’t in-network.
The No Surprises Act seeks to prevent this, banning out-of-network bills for emergency care, supplemental care (e.g., anesthesiology, radiology), and out-of-network providers working at in-network facilities.
New transparency laws also require hospitals to post rates for 300 common services. However, as of February, only ~14% were compliant, per CNBC.
And the core issue remains: People can’t afford care, as both medical costs and deductibles have steadily increased.
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