Top tech startup news stories you need to know this Tuesday, September 11

Good morning! Here are some of the top tech startup news stories for today, Tuesday, September 11.

Medical device and artificial intelligence startup AliveCor becomes the first company to receive FDA-clearance to use heart signals to detect serious blood condition without blood draw. Startup AliveCor can now detect a dangerous blood condition by monitoring heart signals, and the FDA has given it ‘breakthrough status. AliveCor, in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic,  develops a new test that screens for elevated potassium levels without requiring any blood. Instead the Medical device and artificial intelligence startup uses AI technology that looks for signals in electrocardiograms. Apple is expected to launch an ECG, Kardia, on its Apple Watch come Wednesday. Kardia is the world’s first medical-grade 30-second EKG for Apple Watch. The company was co-founded in 2011 by David Albert, a medical doctor and former chief clinical scientist of cardiology at General Electric, along with scientists Bruce Satchwell and Kim Barnet.

UK startup Medopad acquired Silicon Valley health startup Sherbit. As part of its US expansion, the UK-based health tech startup Medopad has acquired Silicon Valley data firm Sherbit for an undisclosed sum of money. Founded in 2011, Medopad is a digital health startup that helps hospitals and patients track long-term illnesses and conditions.  Medopad already has deals with British hospitals including the Royal Free, Guy’s and St. Thomas’, and St. Bartholomew’s. Medopad is planning to close a $120 million funding round this year. Sherbit’s CEO and team will now focus on bringing Medopad’s technology into US teaching hospitals.

Digital wealth management platform startup FacetWealth raises $33 million in funding. FacetWealth, a startup that buys small clients from RIAs, has raised $33 million in funding with the premise of providing holistic, personalized financial advice to the mass affluent. Unique to its growth model is that Facet Wealth acquires small clients from registered investment advisor (RIA) firms, with the promise that if those clients reach over $1 million in assets, the firm will offer to move them back to the advisor. The startup unlocks access to high-quality financial advice for the mass affluent individuals and families that are often underserved or overlooked by the traditional wealth management industry.

Atrium, a legal startup started by the founder of Twitch, Justin Kan, has raised $65 million. Twitch co-founder Justin Kan has raised $65 million for year-old legal startup Atrium, the company announced Monday. The latest round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund, Sound Ventures and General Catalyst joining the round. The startup will use the funding to hire more employees on both its legal services and technical sides. The funding comes as Atrium has helped some of tech’s fastest-growing companies raise a combined $500 million, including scooter company Bird, Alto, MessageBird and Sift Science—250 clients overall.

British flying car startup Vertical Aerospace conducted a test flight of its electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle this summer. Vertical Aerospace is a British startup that has built and flown a fully electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The test puts the Bristol-based company a step closer to its goal of providing personal, on-demand and carbon-free air travel between cities within four years. The startup is planning to launch an intercity flying taxi service by 2022. The 28-person startup is competing with the likes of Kitty Hawk, Uber, and Rolls-Royce in building flying taxis.

A growing number of iOS apps have been used to covertly collect precise location histories from tens of millions of mobile devices, using packaged code provided by data monetization firms, that was according to a new report from VPN app developer GuardianApp. In many cases, the packaged tracking code may run at all times, constantly sending user GPS coordinates and other information, the report says. The report lists 24 iOS apps that collect at least one data point in a list that includes Bluetooth LE beacon data, GPS, and Wi-FI data, plus network details, timestamps, advertising identifiers, accelerometer data, and battery status. The 24 apps include AskFM, GasBuddy, C25K 5K Trainer app, Mobiletag, PayByPhone Parking, and Tapatalk. The location data monetization firms linked to the apps include AreaMetrics, Cubeiq, Factual, Huq, Sense 360, and RevealMobile.