Cooler Heads Care, the San Diego-based medtech startup led by founder and CEO Kate Dilligan, just announced an $11 million Series A round backed by an impressive lineup of investors including Mutual Capital Partners, SHD Partners, Crescent Ridge VC, and Golden Seeds, among others.

Cooler Heads is on a mission to democratize access to scalp cooling - a proven technique that helps prevent chemotherapy-induced hair loss - through innovative, portable technology that puts dignity and control back in the hands of cancer patients.

This funding will accelerate the company’s rollout of AMMA™, a first-of-its-kind self-contained scalp cooling solution that doesn’t require nurses to administer, and can be used in-clinic or at-home. It’s a significant leap forward in patient-centered care, targeting a gap in the oncology space that has long gone underserved.

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The Real Cost of Chemo: Hair Loss as Trauma

While life-saving, chemotherapy often comes with a brutal side effect: hair loss. For many patients, especially women, it’s more than just a cosmetic inconvenience - it’s a visible, daily reminder of illness, a loss of identity, and a source of deep psychological distress.

Scalp cooling (aka cold capping) has been scientifically validated to reduce the likelihood of hair loss by constricting blood vessels in the scalp, reducing chemo drug absorption in hair follicles. The problem? Until now, it’s been:

• Inaccessible in most clinics
  
• Cumbersome, often requiring dry ice or bulky machines
  
• Staff-intensive, adding burden to already strained oncology teams
  
• Expensive and rarely covered by insurance
  

Cooler Heads’ AMMA™ device changes all of that. With a sleek, compact design, automated temperature regulation, and self-use capability, it delivers effective scalp cooling at a fraction of the operational complexity and cost.

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A Patient-Inspired Product with Clinical Backing

Founder Kate Dilligan’s motivation is personal - she’s a breast cancer survivor who experienced firsthand how the healthcare system often overlooks emotional and quality-of-life concerns.

AMMA is a reflection of that lived experience:

• Designed to fit into existing treatment workflows
  
• Operable by the patient themselves, eliminating staff burden
  
• Developed with oncologist and nurse feedback from day one
  
• Priced to increase access, especially at community oncology clinics
  
• Backed by ongoing clinical studies and real-world results on efficacy and usability
  

Cooler Heads isn’t just building a medtech device - it’s redefining what supportive oncology care can look like.

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The Insight Most Founders Overlook in Healthcare

Here’s where it gets interesting for founders in the healthtech and medtech space.

Most startups rush toward innovation through disruption - but Cooler Heads wins through integration.

Instead of trying to replace workflows, retrain staff, or push clinicians to adopt entirely new protocols, they’ve built a product that slots into existing clinical rhythms seamlessly.

This is a powerful principle:
In highly regulated or emotionally charged industries like healthcare, the fastest way to adoption isn’t through disruption - it’s through empathy and ecosystem fit.

Too many healthtech products fail because they demand behavior change without stakeholder buy-in. Cooler Heads flipped that model by designing with patients and clinicians at the table, leading to a product that actually gets used - and changes lives.

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Why Investors Are Betting Big on Patient-Centered Oncology

Supportive care is becoming a massive focus area in oncology. While breakthroughs in immunotherapy and precision medicine continue, there's growing recognition that survivorship and quality of life are just as vital to comprehensive cancer treatment.

This shift is being reflected in the market:

• According to Precedence Research, the global scalp cooling systems market is expected to grow from $350M in 2023 to $760M by 2032, at a CAGR of 9.3%.
  
• A Journal of Clinical Oncology study found that 50–70% of patients who used scalp cooling preserved significant hair.
  
• Over 1.9 million new cancer cases are expected in the US in 2025 (ACS), with over half undergoing treatments associated with hair loss.
  
• Out-of-pocket costs for hair-loss support devices can exceed $3,000 per patient when systems are not covered - making affordability a key differentiator.
  

That’s why investors from funds like Crescent Ridge and NuFund are lining up: they see Cooler Heads not only meeting a clinical need, but addressing an emotional pain point with scalable tech.

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What’s Next for Cooler Heads Care

With this $11 million infusion, Cooler Heads plans to:

• Expand distribution across community oncology networks and infusion centers
  
• Pursue FDA 510(k) clearance and broaden clinical trial participation
  
• Launch a direct-to-patient channel that makes AMMA available for home infusions
  
• Educate providers, insurers, and patient advocates about scalp cooling’s benefits
  
• Push for insurance inclusion and policy reform for supportive oncology tech
  

The long-term vision? A world where no patient has to choose between lifesaving treatment and losing part of their identity.

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Final Thoughts: Cooler Heads, Warmer Futures

Kate Dilligan and her team aren’t just building a better medical device. They’re creating a human-centered healthcare experience in an area too often written off as “secondary.”

With fresh capital, deep empathy, and a first-mover advantage in patient-led innovation, Cooler Heads Care is poised to become the category-defining company in supportive oncology tech.

Because when healthcare cares about the whole person, not just the diagnosis - that’s when real healing begins.