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How Two Founders Raised Millions During a Challenging Funding Market · StartUp Health NOW Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome back to Startup Health Now, the podcast where we celebrate the entrepreneurs and the innovators who are transforming health. I'm your host, Logan Plaster.
• 0:07
  [gentle music] As a healthcare startup, really any startup, you can have the best idea in the world, but if you don't have the capital, the money to hire the right people, to build your product, to survive a longer sales cycle, you're unlikely to have a huge impact.
• 0:22
  With any startup journey, the ability to raise money is incredibly important, right? It's, it's our lifeblood, right, in the end.
• 0:30
  To put it simply, raising funds has been challenging for healthcare startups over the last couple years.
• 0:36
  In fact, industry analysts put US venture funding for digital health at $10.7 billion, which is the lowest amount since 2019. There are silver linings to a more conservative, cash-constrained market.
• 0:50
  With less noise and clutter in that market, innovators and investors can narrow in and focus on the solutions that work, those that will truly move the needle for patients.
• 1:00
  Some of the best companies are born out of resource-constrained environments, where every decision has to be financially savvy and effective for the end user.
• 1:10
  Of course, that's not much comfort for the early-stage founder who is slogging it out pitch after pitch, trying to get an idea off the ground.
• 1:18
  So for this episode, I wanted to bring a bit of hope, a bit of inspiration, in the form of two founders who were able to close funding rounds in 2023 and 2024.
• 1:29
  My first guest is Matt Swanson, CEO and founder of Reciprocity Health. We are trying to build the next wave of innovation around patient engagement. With one large MCO client, we've tripled primary care visits.
• 1:42
  Uh, we have more than doubled cervical cancer screenings and mammograms. Matt and his team recently raised $5 million in order to expand their financial incentive program.
• 1:53
  In the conversation we had, Matt shares some of the elements that were critical to that raise, given that they'd only been in business for one year before it closed.
• 2:02
  Our second conversation is with Anton Kittleberger, co-CEO and co-founder at 9am Health. 9am Health is heart and metabolic virtual clinic.
• 2:11
  Think of it as, like, the one place you ever need if you have a, a chronic condition. Anton and his team just closed a $9.5 million Series A extension.
• 2:20
  In our chat, we'll talk about how Anton leverages a unique leadership structure in order to thrive during a tough market, and how the rise of obesity drugs has been an accelerant for his business.
• 2:32
  Does that mean all the shifts with GLP-1s was a real shot in the arm for 9am Health in terms of uptake and adoption? Yeah. It gave us wings, I would say. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting.
• 2:41
  Let's start with my conversation with Matt Swanson from Reciprocity, recorded at ViVE in Los Angeles.
• 2:48
  [upbeat music] So tell me about what you've built, sort of give me the, the pitch of Reciprocity Health, and then we're gonna jump into your raise. Yeah. It's been an exciting year, for sure.
• 3:00
  Um, so our first commercial year, uh, wa- was just completed in, in the end of 2023. So we're- You're just one year old. One year old. Okay.
• 3:09
  Uh, we, we, we got some commercial product out in late 2022, but our first full year was 2023, um, and offered a lot of proof points for us. Yeah.
• 3:17
  Uh, so that was r- really, uh, an exciting time for us to start seeing validated information come out of the platform and the work we were doing.
• 3:25
  Um, and that enabled us, uh, as we closed the year, to raise our next capital round- Okay... uh, which was really exciting. Uh, i- a lot of work. It, it's, it's a tough process these days. Yeah.
• 3:35
  But, um, having that foundation of data really helped. Um, having the commercial validation and, and great client satisfaction helped.
• 3:44
  Um, but I think i- overall, uh, it was really a lesson in perseverance more than anything. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, let's back it up. What is Reciprocity Health? What are you building?
• 3:52
  So we are trying to build the next, uh, wave of innovation around patient engagement.
• 3:58
  Uh, we're doing that with a very unique digital approach, uh, great technology behind it, but really it is about the service behind that technology. Uh, we have a team of behavioral economists who- Mm...
• 4:10
  design, uh, programming for any type of episode of care, uh, chronic condition management, transition of care, and, uh, we deliver that, uh, through an app, but also bundled with financial incentives.
• 4:24
  Uh, financial incentives are a CMS field-tested approach to engaging members in their care.
• 4:30
  Uh, and they proved in, uh, a 10 states of field testing, uh, the effectiveness of paying people to adopt and adhere to their programming- Okay... if you are delivering financial incentives along the way. Okay.
• 4:43
  It's a very powerful programming, uh, but it is very complicated. So building a platform and a team able to do that work was really the challenge for... at the, the outset. Okay.
• 4:52
  So walk me through, I think for a lot of folks, th- they're gonna be thinking, "Wait. I could, I could get paid to do healthy actions?" Walk me through the types of use cases for incentivizing healthy behaviors. Yeah.
• 5:06
  So we do everything from full population programs around your standard preventative, uh, care, uh, getting your annual wellness visit, uh, lab screens, mam- mammograms, cervical cancer screens, et cetera.
• 5:20
  So, uh, getting people participating in the annual approach to just being healthy is- Mm... is one application. But the way we do that is through a digital outreach and a very personalized approach.
• 5:31
  So it's not just a blanket program that you might be able to participate in.
• 5:36
  We approach each individual, telling them exactly what they are eligible for, and, and giving them the steps through the app to actually help them complete that. Okay. So that personalized approach is very important.
• 5:47
  Um, but where we're going, where no one else does, is taking financial incentives and the power behind it into more complex care journeys. Okay.
• 5:54
  So there might be a diabetes management program, for example, that is a six-month program that involves all sorts of different steps, like attending classes, uh, weigh-ins, visiting your doctor, and updating them with a diary of your activities, uh, checking in, uh, week to week, uh, so that the, the clinicians can see exactly the progress you're making and how you're feeling.
• 6:16
  Mm-hmm. So those feedback loops. And what we do is we breadcrumb that entire curriculum with incentives along the way. Mm.
• 6:22
  So, um, you might start the journey with just, uh, five activities ahead of you.Makes it less intimidating. Yeah.
• 6:29
  You're not looking at six months of work, you're looking at these are the next five steps, here are the simple ways to complete those. Some of those are rewarded immediately.
• 6:37
  If you fill out this, uh, screening tool, uh, you'll get $5 loaded to your card immediately. Okay.
• 6:44
  Others, like a primary care visit or a lab screen, will reward when that screen actually shows up with the payer through claims or in their care navigation system. Okay.
• 6:53
  So y- you're really taking a, uh, standardized care delivery program and creating this overlay of financial incentives and instruction to make it a, a more, uh, compelling and rewarding on-ramp into your care. Okay.
• 7:10
  Two questions. One, how compelling is it, uh, y- y- you said it's been validated, it's been studied, how compelling is it to give $5 here, $5 there? What kind of outcomes can you, can you show to
• 7:23
  the people who you work with? So what you're really doing is, uh, breaking it down and making it a simple two or three steps to get started. So you wanna build that confidence and momentum.
• 7:33
  Um, but you're approaching it by telling someone that they can earn hundreds of dollars in the overall- Okay... program, and then showing them the progress they're making towards that overall reward. Got it.
• 7:41
  So the prospect of a reward, a sizable reward, is very compelling to draw people towards their care, especially if you're approaching, uh, the family as a household.
• 7:51
  Uh, we have certain Medicaid families that are earning 7, $800 in total rewards for the family just by doing the g- the gap closures, the preventative care that we talked about. So- Over the course of a year?
• 8:01
  Over the course of the year. Yeah. Okay. So, um, what we do is we have very specific outreach to those families, making sure that they have an easy registration process and can flow into the program really easily.
• 8:12
  Um, and then create a couple of easy early wins for them so that they can actually see that the, the rewards are coming. Um, and we've had great success, not just with enrollment, uh, but i- in follow-through.
• 8:23
  Uh, with one large MCO client, we've tripled primary care visits, uh, we have more than doubled cervical cancer screenings and mammograms.
• 8:32
  And so the evidence that I talked about of r- really being able to prove out that you're driving- Right... that level of adoption is incredible.
• 8:39
  And then when you look at, um, something that historically is quite overwhelming, a, a long-term chronic condition program like diabetes management, um, we've been able to, uh, reach out to members as they come in and, and are receiving that diagnosis from their clinician and getting that clinician to sign them up for the program, and there we have over 80, 90% enrollment rate into the program.
• 9:01
  Wow. Because there you have your clinician saying, "This is what's gonna be healthier for you, and you can actually be earning rewards as you go." Okay.
• 9:08
  The, the cash that they get, it gets put on a special card to be spent in a certain place? How does that work? So that's up to the client to design.
• 9:16
  Uh, at a minimum, we put restrictions on the card, so alcohol, tobacco, firearms, gambling don't work with the card. Um, but then we can get more directed. If it is meant to be only spent on nutritious food- Mm-hmm...
• 9:28
  we can do that. If it's meant to be spent for, uh, for transportation to care, it can d- do that. Our behavioral economics team will tell you that the freedom to spend it where it matters most to you is- Yeah...
• 9:39
  the most compelling piece. Uh, but we can really have the flexibility on a case by case basis to, um, let that card be, uh, the most compelling piece for someone- Yeah... to participate in their care.
• 9:50
  Yeah, you pull away that incentive, and all of a sudden the whole house, you know, the whole house crumbles- Right. Yeah... if it's not actually a compelling offer. Exactly. Um, so let's talk about your raise.
• 10:00
  What was the, what was the amount that you raised? So, uh, it's between $5 and $6 million. Okay.
• 10:05
  Um, we did some initial raise in 2023, and then were able to complete this with the, the larger round, uh, completion with Impactful Capital- Okay... which is a great partner.
• 10:16
  Uh, they are very mission aligned with us, looking at whole person care, um, understanding what digital health and engagement can mean. Um, and we, uh, worked with them over a series of months to get this completed.
• 10:28
  Yeah. A very thorough, a very professional due diligence process. Yeah. I think, uh, all the firms out there are really, uh, tightening the screws on making sure that their investments are well-grounded. Yeah.
• 10:39
  Um, and that we, uh, that we were able to deliver what we said we could do. Yeah.
• 10:43
  So the, the, I was gonna say the million dollar question, the 5.5 million dollar question is why you were able to close when there's a lot of folks out there who are really struggling to close.
• 10:53
  Was it primarily just the right product at the right time, the team, the connections you've had from previous work that you've done? What are some of the ingredients that came together for a successful raise?
• 11:03
  I think two main compelling points. Um, number one, we were really lucky/thoughtful about how we raised capital to start.
• 11:12
  Um, so we really stage-gated our progress and only raised enough capital of what we needed to reach the next milestone of validation- Mm-hmm... and, and technology build throughout, uh, 2020 through 2022.
• 11:25
  Um, and that approach led us to really incrementally raise our valuation, uh, and, and not go for broke and, and get some really inflated valuation that becomes a burden later on- Yeah... when you're fundraising.
• 11:38
  So being in that position and, and in 2023 being in a position where we had a, a, a valuation that we had grown into- Mm-hmm... and, and possibly exceeded really, really helped.
• 11:48
  Um, I think a lot of companies out there are burdened by that, um, that they, uh, have a large valuation that when, when all of a sudden the focus shifted from innovation and into revenue multiples, for example, um, that gets you caught in a really tricky spot.
• 12:02
  So we, we didn't have that issue. We, we had real revenue, we were growing, we, we had a clear trajectory towards break even, which is very important. Um, but the second piece is just flat out perseverance. Yeah.
• 12:14
  Uh, the number of meetings we had, uh, the depth of, uh, conversations that went on weeks if not months with an assortment of- Yeah...
• 12:22
  uh, investors, uh, it takes a lot of time.Luckily, we had, uh, a deep enough bench to be able to run the company and get great results at the same time- Yeah... of running this process.
• 12:33
  But we were running out of gas because, uh, that's a lot of energy going into- Yeah... two very important sides of the business.
• 12:39
  And certainly, having the capital is important, but, uh, the real dividend for me and the senior team is that we get a lot of time back now to- Yeah...
• 12:47
  put into, uh, growing the business and, and, and driving client success. Now, I know you've been an entrepreneur for a long time. You were in e-commerce, you've worked in education.
• 12:55
  So you learned that persistence, you know, uh, and, and how to develop these deals, but you're relatively new to healthcare. Is that, is that fair to say? 10 years in. 10 years in. Yeah. Okay, okay.
• 13:05
  So I, I guess, as a, as an entrepreneur, as a founder of a healthcare company- Three or four years in... three or four years in. Yeah.
• 13:10
  And I'm wondering what you, uh, have learned about what's unique about the persistence necessary in this market versus your previous experience. Yeah.
• 13:20
  I, I think the, um, the client side, uh, is, is very different, uh, because you do need to reach those commercial validation points of, of contracting and revenue.
• 13:31
  Um, so there are longer sales cycles, which makes that more difficult.
• 13:35
  Um, and then, uh, e- especially when you're talking about chronic condition management, those proof points, even once you're into a contract, are still a ways out. Um- Yep...
• 13:45
  I would, I would recommend to, uh, entrepreneurs who are getting to that contract cycle to try to pick projects that are going to, um, yield early, uh, validation points.
• 13:57
  Um, if you can focus on something with driving down hospital readmission, for example, that's something that, uh, you can validate within, on 30-day cycles, right? Got it.
• 14:08
  As opposed to diabetes management, where you have something that's really over the horizon that's really gonna be able to pay off in terms of, of data.
• 14:15
  So if you can, if you do have the luxury of trying to pull in something that has a shorter horizon, that's really, really helpful so that that data can be available.
• 14:23
  Um, I think, you know, in healthcare specifically, if you do have a, a specific client set, whether it's payers, health systems or, or other solution providers, really trying to focus, uh, on one specific set and, and, and become an expert with that group is probably the best way to go.
• 14:44
  Because if you're trying to serve three or four different masters and it's, you're getting pulled in a variety of different directions, it can get really, really hard to drive the outcomes you need and those proof points you need, um, if you're trying to move the ball on, on four different fronts.
• 14:57
  Yeah. Quick last question. What are you most excited about for the next 12 months in terms of milestones for the company? Well, we've got, we're rolling out in three new states, uh- Wow... in April- Wow...
• 15:06
  which is really, really exciting. Um, and we're moving into different client sets. Uh, we've built new technology.
• 15:13
  Uh, we've been exclusively focused on payers, um, and we're now moving into ACOs and health systems- Right... um, which is exciting.
• 15:20
  Uh, if you think about payer populations, um, we're given a, a roster of members, uh, with all their contact information. Go find these folks. Go find the inactive folks. Wow. And we, we go after them. Wow.
• 15:31
  In the ACO and health system world, they don't have a population to manage.
• 15:36
  Uh, they're meeting people and maybe giving a di- a diabetes diagnosis on the spot, and letting those clinicians sign someone up for the program in real time is a new development for us. Yeah.
• 15:48
  Um, so being in that format opens up a whole new horizon for us in terms of clients, and it's really exciting. That's awesome. Well, Matt, uh, excited to see what you're building.
• 15:56
  Excited about the, the raise, uh, but more excited about your persistence to push on this, uh, challenging and such an important area of health innovation. So we'll be, uh, watching as you develop in the next year.
• 16:07
  So, thank you. Thanks, Logan. All right. Appreciate it.
• 16:09
  That was Matt Swanson, CEO and founder of Reciprocity Health, which recently raised 5 million for their platform that layers financial incentives on top of chronic care management in order to help people make healthier decisions.
• 16:22
  Next, my conversation with Anton Kittleberger, co-CEO and co-founder at 9am Health, which recently raised a 9.5 million Series A extension for their full service virtual clinic that helps folks with cardiometabolic conditions.
• 16:37
  Enjoy. [upbeat music] Our audience, uh, is filled with a lot of startup founders, and so they might be curious to know that you have four co-founders and multiple co-CEOs, a highly collaborative team- Yeah...
• 16:51
  and you've worked together in the past. So just start there. Talk to about, talk to me about how your team came together. Yeah. No, happy to.
• 16:57
  Um, it all started really in 2012 when we built a company called MySugr- Okay...
• 17:03
  uh, which turned out to be one of the most successful self diabetes man- management apps, and it was acquired by Roche in 2017 for around about 100 million.
• 17:12
  And all of the people that, um, created 9am Health now were already part of that journey. Got it. You know, Frank was one of the founders. He was, he was CEO and co-founder at the time. I came on, um, shortly after that.
• 17:24
  Our CTO, Bernhard, uh, he was also part of MySugr from the get-go. And, uh, then a little bit later came Paul, our other co-founder, uh, right at the acquisition.
• 17:35
  So we kind of worked together for, you know, over 10 years, six years. And so, you know, a lot of trust, a lot of, um, experience working together.
• 17:45
  We know, you know, where everyone's good at, how they tick and so on, and we're just all friends. So- You're all friends... we really, uh, like working together.
• 17:52
  And I will say at MySugr already, Frank and I, we kind of lived this co-CEO thing- Mm... which I know it's, it's unique, and we had a lot of discussions about it when we started, uh, 9am Health.
• 18:04
  But it's really how we lived at MySugr already. We did this together most of the time, very collaboratively. Um, we discuss a lot, and it can totally be that we fight, but then we- Yeah...
• 18:15
  we will agree on something, and we w- we go together. And I think this, this whole thing of having, you know-You know, four cofounders, even two co-CEOs, leads to, I think, better decisions. Okay.
• 18:27
  It also leads to more motivation in the team because you can't always be on top of your game, but- Yeah... hopefully your cofounder is- Yeah... at that time, and he can pick up and push you, push you along the way.
• 18:38
  So to be- You know, I think- I think that's just really key for us. Yeah Yeah.
• 18:41
  I think to be a successful co-CEO, an el- interesting element to me is there's a element of humility that's involved because to be the CEO is to say, "I'm the, I'm the top dog." Yeah.
• 18:51
  And to share that with somebody, uh, and say, uh... Yeah, to sh- to share the, the honor of that even- Yeah... takes some humility. Yeah. Which I think, I don't know, it... Does...
• 18:59
  Is that reflected, do you feel like, in your team dynamic? Uh, yeah, absolutely. We... We're equal partners. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Um, it's actually... It actually be- goes, goes beyond Frank and I, so it's...
• 19:11
  It is actually Paul, Frank, and I who, like, really closely align on the business. Um, we all have our own responsibilities. We discuss a lot, and then we go with our, with our joint decision. Okay.
• 19:23
  Um, I think it's, it's really one of our success, uh, stories really from mySugr, how we led the team there, and here at 9am Health. You know, a lot of times when I look at even companies that I invested in,
• 19:36
  you know, founder clashes are happening all the time. Uh, you go through difficult moments all the time. With a team like that, it's so much easier. If you're friends- Yeah...
• 19:45
  if you trust each other, if you know, you know, they can... You can go through anything together. The SVB crash, for example. Yeah. You know? That, that's just me- You, you were in the middle of that.
• 19:54
  We were in the middle of that, and, and we, um... Yeah, I think we managed it really well, and that's really just because we are the team we are.
• 20:03
  Y- you, you ma- you make it sound simple to just be friends and have trust. It's, it's, it's, it's so... But it's a, it's a deep thing. Um, so you sold, uh, mySugr to Roche. You said $100 million. Mm.
• 20:15
  Uh, you could have maybe sailed off into the sunset or done something simpler, uh, but you got back into the fray with- Yeah... 9am Health. Yeah. I'm sure it's stressful. There's a lot of work involved.
• 20:25
  Uh, why, why get back into the game and, and sort of what were the ingredients that came together to say, "Now is the time for 9am Health"? Yeah. Um,
• 20:36
  I will say when you, when you say there's a lot of stress and a lot of work involved, you know, I think what's the most important thing in our lives is to work on something that we truly love. Mm.
• 20:47
  And we were just done with what we truly love, right? Yeah.
• 20:50
  So we had to get back into it, and, uh, what we learned at mySugr treating over five million patients is, you know, in order to deliver these, you know, sustainable clinical outcomes, you have to go to the prescription medications.
• 21:04
  You have to do the labs.
• 21:05
  You have to do the clinical work to really be with the patients because that's kind of the base for everything, and then you can layer everything else that's around, you know, basically digital health 1.0, uh, on top of that, but you have to be deeply clinical.
• 21:19
  Mm. And that's what we learned there, and that's why we built 9am Health, and, and 9am Health is, is a cardiometabolic virtual clinic.
• 21:27
  Think of it as like, you know, the one place you ever need if you have a, a chronic condition. And- Any chronic condition or, or a range? Well, we're focused right now- A, a range...
• 21:37
  right now we're focused on, uh, five chronic conditions. Got it. Okay. That's prediabetes, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and obesity. Okay. Basically diabetes and obesity being kind of the main entry- Got it...
• 21:49
  points for us, and we do everything you need there, right? So we are, we are your doctor, and we have all the specialists on board- Okay... and every provider around it.
• 21:57
  Uh, we take care of the medications, that they get delivered to your door. Nice. We take care of the labs. We actually go into the home, draw your blood. Uh, we take care of the devices. They're all connected.
• 22:07
  So everything that's basically been roaming around- Yeah... the last couple of years and I will say has made it sometimes even harder for us patients to navigate it. Yeah.
• 22:15
  I say us patients because I live with a chronic condition myself- Okay... with Type 1 diabetes. Um, yeah, we brought it all together and made it incredibly easy. Okay. Um, and- Okay. Yeah.
• 22:25
  Walk me through the patient experience. You say it's easy. Let's say I have Type 1 diabetes. I'm on the platform. What are some of the interactions, the nudges, the experiences that I'm gonna have throughout the day?
• 22:37
  Yeah, sure. So, uh, we don't take care of Type 1 diabetes yet mostly. Oh, okay. So it's, it's- The chronic T- Type 2... Type t- Type 2. Okay. It's prediabetes, obesity. Those are the main conditions that we care for.
• 22:47
  We do care for a few Type 1 diabetes- Okay... patients, but that's exceptions.
• 22:52
  Um, in essence, the, the customer journey starts with either a brief medical history, like a questionnaire that you'd answer, or we get to pull your medical history right out of, um, uh, the, the connected systems that we have.
• 23:05
  And so afterwards, our algorithm will basically look at everything we know about you and you told us about you and come up with the right treatment plan. Got it.
• 23:13
  Our clinical team will then work with that and basically confirm a few things with you, and, and then you're basically off to your perfect, uh, personalized treatment plan.
• 23:22
  Oftentimes that starts with labs if you have no recent labs, right? So, uh, a lab technician is gonna come to your home, is gonna draw- Oh, really?... your blood- Okay...
• 23:30
  and bring it to a LabCorp request, and that gets processed there.
• 23:34
  Uh, we immediately get the results fed back in, and our clinical team will, based on these final, uh, data points that are coming in, then start to prescribe if appropriate, and that ranges from, you know, all the diabetes medications, to the obesity medications, to hypertension, hyperlipidemia medications.
• 23:50
  Yeah. All of that, plus the lifestyle side of it, plus the respective devices that you need from, like, a scale, a blood pressure cuff, or a glucose monitor, or CGMs.
• 23:59
  Um, whatever is the right path for you, we really look at members holistically. You'll get that prescribed, delivered to your door, and off you go, and not just once but continuously. Interesting.
• 24:10
  What I'm sort of seeing is this a, a, a wrap-up innovation, where you're saying, "You know what? There used to be a platform that could bring, uh, blood testing to your home." Yep.
• 24:18
  "There used to be, you know, pill pack c- coming to your house." Yep. "Let's put it all in one place." Yep.
• 24:23
  And that leads me to think this is a, you know, capital intensive sort of concept, and you've got a, a team with the experience. You've raised funds before. You've exited the company before. You have the four co-CEOs.
• 24:35
  How big of a, how big of a sort of distinguishing factor is your ability to raise?Yeah. Uh, that's a good question.
• 24:43
  I think, you know, with, with any startup journey, the ability to raise money is incredibly important, right? It's, it's our lifeblood, right, in the end.
• 24:52
  Um, I think the time has changed a, a little bit so that, you know, some of the elements that we have done now can be done very well through partners. You don't have to build everything yourself. Okay.
• 25:03
  So, you don't necessarily have to have all the capital to, for example, run a whole lab technician network nationwide. Full phlebotomy, yeah. Yeah. I mean, which is, it's a lot of money that you need for that. Yeah.
• 25:15
  And you need the scale also, right? So we, we partner there, for example. Okay.
• 25:19
  We are really focused on the technology on the clinical side of it, bringing all the data points together, and just using all, you know, these, these elements of care, the medical history, the data points that are coming in daily, the lab values, all of that, uh, and your recent interactions to continuously update that treatment plan and make it incredibly efficient for all our providers to work on top of their license.
• 25:43
  Okay. Okay. Uh, talk to us about your go-to-market. Who's your ideal partner? You could obviously work with a range of partners and contract to, to consumers. Yeah.
• 25:52
  Um, so our prime partners are pharmacy benefit managers. Okay. So in the, in the end, we wanna go to employers, right? Okay. But we do this through pharmacy benefit managers.
• 26:02
  Um, we do it through aggregation partners and navigation partners. Um, and then we basically go to the employer and become a health benefit in their, in their offering. Okay, okay.
• 26:12
  Why, why the PBMs and employers versus going to a payer, hospital, you know, community health, whatever? I mean, you, you could almost be... You could be useful in so many places. Absolutely.
• 26:22
  We could, and I, I see all of them- Yeah... in, like, the V2 of our company, right? Okay. Okay. So right now, the employers are really our, our number one because that's faster to market.
• 26:32
  Uh, we can reach bigger scale, um, that way, and we are working on the health plans. We're working on health systems, but we see those more play out in, like, 2025, 2026. Okay.
• 26:42
  When I think about employer benefits, I think about low adoption. Uh-huh. I think about struggling for adoption. Yeah. Great plan. Give it to the employer. Yeah. Doesn't get utilized. Yeah.
• 26:52
  How are you addressing that issue? Yeah, I think there is, there is one key element that we're helping employers with today, which is the medication spend. Hmm. Okay.
• 27:00
  That's really, uh, how we get in in the end because you see all the GLP-1 craze out there. Everyone wants to be on a weight loss medication, and you need to manage that. So we... That's where we come in and manage that.
• 27:12
  We make it incredibly easy for our customers, members, um, to work with us, but we also manage that spend. I love it. So we make sure the right people get access to these medications.
• 27:22
  We try different things before because we basically have everything in our toolbox that we, that is out there, basically.
• 27:29
  GLP-1s are one part of the toolkit, but we also, you know, we do from lifestyle modification all the way to bariatric surgery, whatever delivers the right ROI and is the best for the member.
• 27:40
  So that's really where we help the employer partners. Okay. And the employees, on the other hand, when you say, like, low adoption, you know, the GLP-1s are a real driver to adoption. Okay. Okay.
• 27:49
  Um, and this notion of getting access to a GLP-1 through that one service that your employer has partnered with in order to control the spend- Hmm... but then also make sure these drugs are administered properly- Hmm...
• 28:02
  is a very appealing entry point. Does that mean all the shifts with GLP-1s was a real shot in the arm for 9am Health in terms of uptake and adoption? Yeah. It gave us wings, I would say. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
• 28:13
  Interesting. Yeah. What are you most excited about over the next 12 months in terms of raises, milestones, partners? Yeah. Thank you for the question. I mean, we, we just closed the Series A extension. Congratulations.
• 28:24
  Um, we brought, um, the Cigna Ventures team- Okay... on board. And- What was the amount? Uh, 9.5 million we raised. Okay.
• 28:31
  We extended our Series A, and yeah, it's just a, it's just a real testament to the approach, to the solution.
• 28:38
  Um, also, you know, hopefully over the next couple of months you'll hear more about what we can do in the Cigna ecosystem.
• 28:45
  And so, just really excited about having such an experienced investor, and also access to, to some of their business lines. Yeah. Yeah. Really excited about that.
• 28:52
  That, that's one of those investors where it's a- as much about the access as the cash. It is. Isn't it? Yeah. Isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Uh, what are you excited about those funds enabling you to do with the company?
• 29:02
  Yeah, so we've signed a ton of contracts towards the end of last year, and, and this year is really all about execution, um, and scaling up our team, and really rolling out to all these members out there that are waiting for much easier healthcare going forward.
• 29:18
  I love it. Anton, great to get the update. It's been exciting to watch 9am Health grow, and just, you know, your passion to come off of mySugar and say, "You know, we're not done yet.
• 29:27
  We're gonna do this, and we're gonna help millions more people." So thanks for the update, and I wish you the best in the next year. Logan, thank you. All right. [upbeat music] Thanks for listening to Starter Health Now.
• 29:39
  We'll be back again with another episode next week. [upbeat music]