Club Fútbol Estrela Amadora | Lisbon, Portugal | August 25, 2026

LEAD’s First-Ever Sports Team Ownership

<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WIG0!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d436f7b-63a4-43f4-9937-d0ad1cb4d8cc_2875x1913.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WIG0!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d436f7b-63a4-43f4-9937-d0ad1cb4d8cc_2875x1913.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WIG0!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d436f7b-63a4-43f4-9937-d0ad1cb4d8cc_2875x1913.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WIG0!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d436f7b-63a4-43f4-9937-d0ad1cb4d8cc_2875x1913.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WIG0!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d436f7b-63a4-43f4-9937-d0ad1cb4d8cc_2875x1913.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WIG0!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d436f7b-63a4-43f4-9937-d0ad1cb4d8cc_2875x1913.png" width="1456" height="969" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/3d436f7b-63a4-43f4-9937-d0ad1cb4d8cc_2875x1913.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:969,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:4793682,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://leadvc.substack.com/i/169671774?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d436f7b-63a4-43f4-9937-d0ad1cb4d8cc_2875x1913.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WIG0!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d436f7b-63a4-43f4-9937-d0ad1cb4d8cc_2875x1913.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WIG0!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d436f7b-63a4-43f4-9937-d0ad1cb4d8cc_2875x1913.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WIG0!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d436f7b-63a4-43f4-9937-d0ad1cb4d8cc_2875x1913.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WIG0!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d436f7b-63a4-43f4-9937-d0ad1cb4d8cc_2875x1913.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-refresh-cw"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></svg></div><div class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h2>I. Introduction</h2><p>College athletics, long celebrated as the last and purest form of amateur sport, is undergoing a dramatic transformation&#8212;a fast-track toward professionalization.</p><p>What was once a university-operated, donor-supported, community-backed ecosystem governed by tradition is now increasingly influenced by macroeconomic market forces, including labor rights, media rights, and potentially private capital.</p><p>This is no longer just about who wins the Rose Bowl or the Final Four. It&#8217;s about who controls the infrastructure, monetization, and influence of a multi-billion-dollar industry.</p><p>I see this not just as a cultural shift&#8212;but as an infrastructure vacuum. When the old models collapse, someone will build the new ones. The only question is: who?</p><h2>II. NIL as the Trojan Horse</h2><p>The emergence of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) in 2021 was a highly debated topic. Traditionalists branded it as a violation of what it means to be a student-athlete, while progressives called it a long-overdue move to give athletes the right to monetize their efforts. Whether people agreed or disagreed, the legalization of this athlete-empowered movement sparked a snowball effect that could not be stopped, even if an attempt was made.</p><blockquote><p><a href="https://miamihurricanes.com/news/2023/11/17/canes-connection-named-official-nil-collective-of-university-of-miami-athletics/">Case Study</a>: At the University of Miami, a booster-backed collective signed a $400K NIL deal with a top men&#8217;s basketball recruit. That public deal set a new standard&#8212;effectively pricing out less-resourced programs. The result? A Final Four run in 2023 and a clear statement: NIL was no longer about individual endorsements. It had become an institutional weapon.</p></blockquote><p>NIL was never just about athletes making money off Instagram. From the start, collectives were used as the primary recruiting tool for coaches to attract top talent to their schools. An anonymous SEC Athletic Director said, &#8220;Boosters used to give to build facilities. Now they&#8217;re paying for talent directly. That changes the whole power structure.&#8221; It&#8217;s now a full-fledged compensation system disguised as marketing. Honestly, that took some time to develop. In 2021, NIL mainly involved ad-hoc sponsorships and brand deals. And now, in 2025, it has grown into structured contracts, retention incentives, and tiered recruiting payouts. Many would describe this short-lived period as the Wild West.</p><p>However, as many had predicted, this structure alone could not hold up. It quickly turned into an arms race to the bottom, with the winner being the one with the most donor dollars.</p><p>The aftermath that we predict is a lose-lose where every party involved is fatigued at the end.</p><p>Market forces are now knocking on the front doorstep of college athletics to clean house.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://leadvc.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Subscribe to receive all of LEAD&#8217;s latest posts.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p></p><h2>III. The Broken Model &amp; Its Unintended Consequences</h2><p>The traditional economic model of college athletics was based on three pillars (but not for much longer):</p><ol><li><p><em>Volunteer amateur labor:</em> When the <a href="https://www.si.com/college/2016/02/24/northwestern-union-case-book-indentured">Northwestern football team tried to unionize in 2014</a>, it marked the beginning of a labor rights awakening. With recent settlements, the NCAA has finally lost its grip on defining athletes as &#8220;students first.&#8221; Using this argument, universities profited off athletes&#8217; names and likenesses without paying them. The era of unpaid labor is essentially over.</p></li><li><p><em>Ever-increasing broadcast revenue:</em> While media revenue has surged, so have expectations. Linear TV is funding the present, but it&#8217;s not shaping the future. Media revenue was once the main driver of growth. Now it&#8217;s the wedge that&#8217;s divided the sport. Mega-deals with Fox and ESPN have created &#8220;haves&#8221; and &#8220;have-nots,&#8221; with Power5 schools earning three to five times more than mid-majors. That imbalance is now apparent.</p></li><li><p><em>Alumni-driven efforts:</em> Donors are funding talent pipelines in the dark, often with no say or stake. This shift from philanthropy to transaction is forcing many to rethink their role in the ecosystem. When their emotional ties unravel, dollars will slowly disappear. A Stanford donor said in a Sportico article, &#8220;If we become just another minor league, don&#8217;t expect me to keep giving like this as an alma mater.&#8221;</p></li></ol><p>That model is now broken. Why now? This is a $20B market awakening to its own inefficiencies. College athletics is no longer just a stepping stone&#8212;it has become its own market. With ongoing legal reforms, revenue increasing from media rights, and private equity interest intensifying, it is an inevitable truth waiting to be revealed.&nbsp;</p><p><em>Legal Reforms:</em> <a href="https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/45467505/judge-grants-final-approval-house-v-ncaa-settlement">The House v. NCAA settlement</a> marks a turning point. Approximately $20.5 million per school in new revenue allocation has temporarily leveled the NIL landscape &#8212;no more pay-to-play arms race, but most schools still lack the tools to spend wisely. The new structure means that every athletic department now operates under a quasi-professional model. Schools must now budget like businesses, with actual labor costs. Without a unified labor framework, the result is chaos: different state laws, inconsistent enforcement, and vast compliance gaps. More to come here.</p><p><em>Revenue Surges:</em> In 2025, the Big Ten and SEC are projected to generate over $1.5 billion in media rights, surpassing the revenue of some professional leagues. However, this &#8220;super conference&#8221; model results in concentrated value&#8212;40 schools thrive while 300 others struggle. This consolidation reflects Silicon Valley: dominant platforms overshadow everyone else.</p><p><em>PE Interest:</em> Firms are targeting college sports to control the infrastructure. Similar to fintech or logistics, owning the infrastructure offers long-term leverage. Revenues have increased, but cost structures remain inflated. Some groups are quietly exploring ways to bundle athletic department revenue streams for securitization. It&#8217;s financial engineering combined with fandom.</p><p>All these rapidly changing dynamics raise a significant concern: the unintended result of facing inequities in college athletics for non-revenue sports. This is a question I haven&#8217;t seen many people in the industry address or have a clear strategy for. I am hopeful that this will change.&nbsp;</p><h2>IV. Global Models: A Mirror or a Warning?</h2><p>Across Europe and around the world, professional sports primarily grow through club academies and federated systems, rather than universities. Some UEFA development coach probably says, &#8220;In Europe, we don&#8217;t pretend our 18-year-old striker is here to major in biology.&#8221; Separating academics and athletics has its downsides, but also provides clarity. US college sports might be closer to that reality than we first think. As schools move away from the student-athlete label and start offering direct pay, they&#8217;ll need new models for scale, governance, and ownership.</p><h2>V. What I&#8217;m Looking for as a VC?</h2><blockquote><p>&#8220;Schools need infrastructure fast. If the NCAA won&#8217;t build it, startups will.&#8221; &#8212; Blake Lawrence, CEO, OpenDorse</p></blockquote><p><em>&#129504; Thematic Signals I&#8217;m Tracking:</em></p><p>I want to find builders developing new systems for an old industry. This cosmic shift in the industry is that increasing revenue is the top priority. Revenue can be perceived directly on a P&amp;L, but also indirectly through a team&#8217;s winning percentage. But do not ignore or lose sight of what matters most to athletic departments moving forward.</p><ol><li><p>&#8220;Boring&#8221; back-office tools for athletic departments to operate like a traditional business.</p></li><li><p>&#8220;High ROI&#8221; front-office &amp; on-field tools designed to impact winning games sustainably.</p></li><li><p>Infrastructure for fan monetization beyond tickets. Fan identification is required first.</p></li></ol><h2>VII. Final Words</h2><p>This isn&#8217;t the &#8220;hype wave&#8221; we all experienced with NIL. It&#8217;s a structural re-architecture.</p><ul><li><p><em>For founders:</em> the need is real, and the buyers are scared. Get busy!</p></li><li><p><em>For athletic departments:</em> the clock is ticking. Go out and innovate. If you want to retain control, start running a sports enterprise, not a scholarship office with a stadium.</p></li><li><p><em>For VCs:</em> The market size is substantial, and market dynamics are currently in place.</p></li><li><p><em>For PEs:</em> While it has some perks to the vanity asset (like professional sports), you&#8217;ve got quite the operational task ahead of you. That said, there is serious upside if executed the right way.</p></li></ul><div class="captioned-button-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://leadvc.substack.com/p/the-great-unbundling-of-college-athletics?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="CaptionedButtonToDOM"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading! Feel free to share this post with someone it resonates with.</p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://leadvc.substack.com/p/the-great-unbundling-of-college-athletics?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://leadvc.substack.com/p/the-great-unbundling-of-college-athletics?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p></div><p></p>

Why that matters for industry stakeholders, founders, and investors?

The Great Unbundling of College Athletics

Comics Is Exploding, and GlobalComix Is Building the Platform for It

Why We Invested in GlobalComix

<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uFqc!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F394631f9-862a-4e5f-b5de-36439971b9f0_1920x1080.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uFqc!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F394631f9-862a-4e5f-b5de-36439971b9f0_1920x1080.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uFqc!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F394631f9-862a-4e5f-b5de-36439971b9f0_1920x1080.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uFqc!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F394631f9-862a-4e5f-b5de-36439971b9f0_1920x1080.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uFqc!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F394631f9-862a-4e5f-b5de-36439971b9f0_1920x1080.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uFqc!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F394631f9-862a-4e5f-b5de-36439971b9f0_1920x1080.png" width="1456" height="819" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/394631f9-862a-4e5f-b5de-36439971b9f0_1920x1080.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:819,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:128407,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://leadvc.substack.com/i/186464050?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F394631f9-862a-4e5f-b5de-36439971b9f0_1920x1080.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uFqc!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F394631f9-862a-4e5f-b5de-36439971b9f0_1920x1080.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uFqc!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F394631f9-862a-4e5f-b5de-36439971b9f0_1920x1080.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uFqc!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F394631f9-862a-4e5f-b5de-36439971b9f0_1920x1080.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uFqc!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F394631f9-862a-4e5f-b5de-36439971b9f0_1920x1080.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" style="height:20px;width:20px" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>LEAD is proud to share that we&#8217;ve doubled down on our investment in <a href="https://lotus.ai/">Lotus Health AI</a>, doubling down in the company&#8217;s <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/03/lotus-health-nabs-35m-for-ai-doctor-that-sees-patients-for-free/">$35M Series A fundraise</a> alongside Kleiner Perkins and CRV, following our initial investment in its Seed round in 2024. We couldn&#8217;t be more excited to see all the progress that Lotus has made in building the AI doctor powered by real doctors.</p><p>In 2024, when we first met Lotus&#8217;s founder, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kjdhaliwal/">KJ Dhaliwal</a>, he posed a compelling question: What if siloed health records, wearable data, insurance information, millions of peer-reviewed studies, and clinical guidelines were unified in one app?</p><p>As the business continued to mature over the next two years, that insight evolved into a bolder vision: making world-class primary care accessible to every American, 24/7. After years of development, Lotus is making this vision real. Partnering with clinicians from Harvard, UCSF, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and other leading institutions, Lotus delivers personalized primary care powered by real doctors, unifying fragmented health data with insurance information and evidence-based medicine, available to patients <em>for free</em>.</p><blockquote><p>&#8220;Industry-changing companies are rarely built by insiders&#8212;they know too much to question the system. KJ brings an outsider imagination with his technical experience of scaling and exiting one of South Asia&#8217;s most successful consumer apps. He&#8217;s assembled an exceptional team to ensure this product reaches the people who need it most.&#8221; - <em>Justin Driscoll, Principal at LEAD</em></p></blockquote><h4><strong>Healthcare is Broken. Primary Care Is Worse.</strong></h4><p>When people discuss the state of U.S. healthcare, many point out that we spend <a href="https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-life-expectancy-compare-countries/#Life%20expectancy%20and%20per%20capita%20healthcare%20spending%20(PPP%20adjusted),%202023">twice as much</a> per capita as other large, wealthy countries yet still deliver<a href="https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-life-expectancy-compare-countries/#Life%20expectancy%20and%20per%20capita%20healthcare%20spending%20(PPP%20adjusted),%202023"> worse</a> health outcomes. However, as problematic as our overall health system is, the primary care system is even worse.</p><p><em><strong>Acute Physician Shortage:</strong></em><strong> </strong>In 2022, <a href="https://physiciansfoundation.org/new-report-u-s-primary-care-system-crumbling-amid-historic-disinvestment-and-surge-in-chronic-diseases/">30%</a><strong> </strong>of U.S. adults lacked a consistent source of care, the highest level in a decade, even with historically high rates of insurance coverage. Despite primary care&#8217;s vital role in providing <a href="https://www.graham-center.org/content/dam/rgc/documents/publications-reports/reports/PrimaryCareChartbook2021.pdf">first contact, coordination, continuity, and comprehensiveness of care</a>, primary care physicians account for only about <a href="https://www.graham-center.org/content/dam/rgc/documents/publications-reports/reports/PrimaryCareChartbook2021.pdf">one-third</a><strong> </strong>of the physician workforce, well below the Council of Graduate Medical Education&#8217;s recommended 40%. Factors such as retirements and fewer medical graduates choosing family medicine for more lucrative fields are only widening the gap.</p><p><em><strong>Fragmentation and Care Gaps:</strong></em><strong> </strong>At the same time, driven by similar forces, the U.S. healthcare system has become increasingly fragmented and specialized in its care delivery, even as the patient population has shifted toward chronic disease management that requires coordinated, continuous care. Today, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2025/24_0539.htm">76.4%</a> of U.S. adults live with at least one chronic condition, and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2025/24_0539.htm">51.4%</a> suffer from multiple conditions. These patients bear the brunt of care fragmentation, as managing chronic diseases requires sustained care coordination over long periods.</p><h4><strong>How We Broke Primary Care (And Why It Matters)</strong></h4><p>The problem of U.S. primary care is multifaceted.</p><p><em><strong>Misaligned Payment Incentives: </strong></em>The still-dominant fee-for-service model disincentivizes primary care under the American Medical Association&#8217;s Relative Value Scale, and the Relative Value Units assigned to primary care services are <a href="https://health.ucdavis.edu/media-resources/family-medicine/documents/pdf/Rev-PC-Recommendations-and-Proceedings-2025.pdf">much lower</a> than those for subspecialties, contributing to lower salaries for family physicians, general internists, and pediatricians.</p><p><em><strong>Declining Payor Investments: </strong></em>Additionally, insurers&#8217; investments in primary care as a share of total healthcare spending fell from <a href="https://www.milbank.org/publications/the-health-of-us-primary-care-2024-scorecard-report-no-one-can-see-you-now/">5.4%</a> in 2012 to <a href="https://www.milbank.org/publications/the-health-of-us-primary-care-2024-scorecard-report-no-one-can-see-you-now/">4.7%</a> in 2021, despite primary care accounting for<a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/25983/chapter/3"> 35%</a> of healthcare visits.</p><p><em><strong>The Net Impact Of It All: </strong></em>These forces have resulted in a sharp rise in the number of Americans who lack a consistent source of healthcare, with medically underserved individuals most affected. Even for those with access to primary care, many physicians are <em>overburdened </em>and<em> under-resourced</em>, resulting in limited patient access, short visits, and many patients <a href="https://health.ucdavis.edu/media-resources/family-medicine/documents/pdf/Rev-PC-Recommendations-and-Proceedings-2025.pdf">dissatisfied</a> with timeliness and quality of care.</p><h4><strong>A Category Ripe for Disruption</strong></h4><p>As a health specialist investor, LEAD has had our eyes on the health data space ever since the publication of The Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) in early 2022, which created the framework for a nationwide &#8220;network-of-networks&#8221; to enable secure, standardized health data sharing for healthcare stakeholders. However, finding the right opportunity took some time.</p><blockquote><p><em>&#8220;Before investing in Lotus, we met with hundreds of startups in the space and struggled to find a consumer platform that offered both unified health insights and intervention capabilities within the healthcare system.&#8221;</em></p><p><em>Kaiwen Liu, Associate at LEAD</em></p></blockquote><p>Since our Seed investment in May 2024, we&#8217;ve grown increasingly excited as the team transforms vision into product - though until now, we&#8217;ve kept that excitement to ourselves while the company built in stealth.</p><p>The landscape has shifted dramatically even in the months since our initial investment in 2024. Major technology companies entering healthcare signal that the market recognizes what we saw early: AI-powered care delivery is not theoretical but inevitable. This influx of attention and capital is expanding the category and accelerating user adoption. More than 5% of all ChatGPT messages globally are about health care, and more than <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/01/05/chatgpt-openai-health-insurance-aca">40 million</a> people globally turn to ChatGPT daily for health information.</p><p>For purpose-built healthcare companies with clinical rigor and consumer trust, this rising tide creates opportunity rather than competition.</p><h4><strong>Closing Thoughts</strong></h4><p>We invested in Lotus and the team because millions of Americans urgently need better primary care solutions. We believe Lotus has the potential to help fill the gap and deliver high-quality, continuous, whole-person care for people suffering from chronic conditions, while supporting under-resourced primary care physicians.</p><p>This can truly transform health outcomes for millions, if not billions of people. We couldn&#8217;t be more excited to support Lotus in its next chapter.</p><div id="youtube2-v12NCH9DAuQ" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;v12NCH9DAuQ&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/v12NCH9DAuQ?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div>

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