The coronavirus pandemic has quickly increased the need for telehealth services, and the high-demand has made telehealth startup Ro a winner. It was disclosed Monday that Ro is valued at $1.5 billion after closing a $200 million Series C led by existing investor General Catalyst.
Startup co-founders motivated by health problems
Ro was launched in 2017 by Rob Schutz, Zachariah Reitano, and Saman Rahmanian. CEO and co-founder Zachariah Reitano told Forbes that Saman Rahmanian, Rob Schutz, and himself have all faced health challenges and started the company motivated by a personal need. Reitano says that all his family members have faced life-threatening illnesses.
The company will use the new funding to offer remote patient monitoring with integrated devices. This is expected to quickly increase the capacity for chronic disease management, urgent care, and at-home testing on its platform.
Ro also plans to add more staff. They currently have around 250 employees. There are also plans to add 100 more employees to double the engineering team.
Trending toward telehealth
U.S. health care spending reached $3.6 trillion in 2018, about $11,172 per person, according to data from the National Health Expenditure Accounts.
