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Billionaire venture capitalist Mark Cuban has founded or invested early in hundreds of startup companies over the years. But only one of them, founded in January 2022, bears his name.

The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. seeks to disrupt the $365 billion U.S. prescription drug market, which is rife with pricing inefficiencies. For example, one tablet of the Type 2 diabetes treatment Metformin costs over $500 at retail prices. But through Cubans company, the same tablet is just $46.20.

The company offers 350 prescription drugs at cost, plus a fixed 15% margin that still makes some prescription drugs significantly cheaper than their retail prices. The savings are made possible in part by eliminating the middleman in the prescription drug industry: Cubans company bypasses health insurers to negotiate directly with drug manufacturers.

The startup could have saved Medicare up to $3.6 billion in 2020 alone, according to a study by Harvard Medical School. But as significant as that number is, it pales in comparison to an even lower-hanging fruit in the fight to drive down healthcare costs: targeting the nationwide stress epidemic.

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Stress costs the U.S. economy as much as $300 billion per year, according to the American Psychological Association. A huge source of this is healthcare costs, with 65% of households reporting high levels of stress or anguish over treatment costs. Cubans company, should it succeed in slashing prescription drug prices across the board, could provide tremendous relief on this front.

But one startup is tackling stress directly. Founded in 2019, Sensate is the company behind a patented relaxation device that it says is the first of its kind. The novel patented technology uses infrasonic therapy to help the bodys nervous system recover from daily stresses.

Sensate grew revenue by 363% from 2020 to 2021, when it hit $2.8 million in revenue. Prominent venture capital backers include TenOneTen, Unlock Venture Partners and Expert DOJO.

See more on startup investing from Benzinga. Never Lose Your Things Again – The Startup Pouring Gasoline on the Apple AirTag Martin Tobias Invested in Google, DocuSign, OpenSea and Over a Dozen Other Unicorns – Heres What Startup He Is Investing in Next and How to Invest Alongside Him

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Politics

Has Russia really ‘legalized’ cryptocurrency mining?

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Has Russia really ‘legalized’ cryptocurrency mining?

Russia’s crypto mining laws have filled the “regulatory vacuum,” but there is still a lot of legal uncertainty about many aspects of regulation.

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Politics

Paxos launches USD-backed USDG stablecoin with DBS Bank

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Paxos launches USD-backed USDG stablecoin with DBS Bank

Paxos launches USDG, a Singapore-compliant stablecoin, partnering with DBS Bank for US dollar reserves in line with Singapore’s MAS framework.

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Business

Markets react on second open after budget – as traders concerned over some announcements

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Markets react on second open after budget - as traders concerned over some announcements

The cost of government borrowing has jumped, while UK stocks and the pound are up, as markets digest the news of billions in borrowing and tax rises announced in the budget.

While there was no panic, there had been concern about the scale of borrowing and changes to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s fiscal rules.

At the market open on Friday, the interest rate on government borrowing stood at 4.476% on its 10-year bonds – the benchmark for state borrowing costs.

It’s down from the high of yesterday afternoon – 4.525% – but a solid upward tick.

The pound also rose to buy $1.29 or €1.1873 after yesterday experiencing the biggest two-day fall in trade-weighted sterling in 18 months.

On the stock market front, the benchmark index, the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 list of most valuable companies was up 0.36%.

The larger and more UK-focused FTSE 250 also went up by 0.1%.

While there was a definite reaction to the budget, uniquely impacting UK borrowing costs, the response is far smaller than after the UK mini-budget.

Many forces are affecting markets with the upcoming US election on a knife edge and interest rate decisions in both the UK and the US coming on Thursday.

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