Telemedicine provider First Stop Health has finalized its latest seed round at $2.1 million, bringing total funding to date to $5.6 million. Existing investors — including co-founders Patrick Spain and Dr. Mark Friedman, and several family offices and angel investors from the Midwest and Texas — led the round, which also saw participation from several technology entrepreneurs and a European investment group.
“As patients are being asked to bear an ever increasing burden of the cost of healthcare, a high utilization telemedicine plan can limit the financial impact for both the patient and the employer and be a wonderful patient experience at the same time,” First Stop Health’s CEO Patrick Spain said in a statement. “Members can have their non-emergency medical issues addressed by doctors within a matter of minutes without spending any of their own money; for many members, it is truly a transformational experience.”
Last year, the company managed to triple its sales, and in 2016 – it plans to use fresh capital to enhance its physician network, expand sales and marketing efforts, as well as build technology enhancements around its physician, client and member platforms.
First Stop Health claims that, unlike its competitors, it has managed to achieve high utilization across its customer base — 4 to 7x higher than typical industry rates. The press release goes on to say that the company is the only telemedicine provider that delivers a “hard dollar ROI to its clients.”