Launching a healthcare company is hard. Launching dozens of them is even harder, but that’s exactly what Redesign Health is setting out to do with $65M in Series C funding.
Redesign isn’t a venture capital firm, although it’s funded more digital health startups than most VCs. It’s not an accelerator, yet it’s launched more early-stage companies in its four years of existence than post pure startup studios.
Then what is it? Good question. Redesign’s team consists of roughly 300 analysts that “accelerate the healthcare innovation cycle” by researching sectors, identifying challenges, then assembling companies to pursue solutions.
- The “assembling companies” piece is every bit as hands-on as you might imagine. Redesign funds the initial product development, handles the branding, and even installs the leadership team.
- By bringing everything in-house, the idea is that Redesign can eliminate many of the barriers that healthcare founders usually face, allowing them to deliver outsized value… and shareholder returns.
Redesign takes an equity stake in every company it launches, a fact well-known to its Series C investors like CVS Ventures, General Catalyst, and UPMC Enterprises.
- Since 2018, Redesign has launched over 40 companies, including home-health startup MedArrive, cancer-care platform Jasper Health, and mental health company UpLift.
- The latest funding will go toward Redesign’s own platform that helps its portfolio companies tackle repeatable processes, and innovation agreements with its Series C investors will ensure that they’re able to co-build companies using the technology.
The Takeaway
Healthcare startups have high upfront capital costs, steep inflection points between business stages, and difficulty recruiting the seasoned executives needed to reach scale. Although there isn’t a magic wand that can be waved to make those problems disappear, we’re guessing that Redesign’s startups see smoother sailing than most.
It’s a unique model that’s hard to put in a box (especially one the size of a DHW top story), but Redesign’s portfolio of already-launched startups and its eye-popping $1.7B valuation seem to suggest that it’s a model that’s working.
