Women’s Health Digital Practice Company Nurx Raises $22.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 14, 2020
  • Nurx — which is the largest digital practice for women’s health — announced it has raised an additional $22.5 million in funding in May for its Series C funding round

Nurx — which is the largest digital practice for women’s health — announced it has raised an additional $22.5 million in funding in May for its Series C funding round. And the company expects to reach profitability by early 2021. New investors Trustbridge, Comcast Ventures, and Wittington Ventures participated in the round along with existing investors Union Square Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Digital Growth Fund.

With this funding round, Nurx plans to use the funding to support rapid patient growth and introduce new sensitive health services, including treatment for headaches and migraines this month. And now Nurx provides care to more than 300,000 patients on a monthly basis, offering an “all in one” service by connecting patients, medical providers, and pharmacies in a single platform, eliminating many of the traditional access barriers to healthcare while enabling an efficient and affordable way to deliver patient-centered care.

The company is focused on providing high-quality care for “sensitive health” needs such as contraception, HIV prevention with PrEP, STI testing and treatment, and herpes treatment — which can be difficult to access and often carry shame and stigma. And Nurx is also one of the few digital practices that accept health insurance while also offering affordable pricing for patients without insurance.

Building on the company’s growth over the last year, Nurx is expecting to reach profitability by early 2021 and has provided over 1 million virtual consultations. And further, the COVID-19 pandemic has driven increased demand for the company’s services with a 75% increase in new patient requests for birth control during the first half of the year, totaling over 250,000 new patient requests.

Nurx has also received twice as many requests for STI home testing and treatment, PrEP for HIV prevention, and oral and genital herpes treatment services in recent months. And Nurx will utilize the funding to continue investing in sensitive health services, starting with personalized treatment for headaches and migraines in the coming weeks. Considering women are 3 times more likely than men to experience migraines, largely due to hormonal fluctuations, Nurx is well-positioned to expand access to treatment within its current patient community of over 300,000 women.

Headaches and migraines are often misunderstood and misdiagnosed. And in a survey of Nurx patients who experience migraines, nearly 1 in 2 said they have had their headache symptoms dismissed by a doctor and 1 in 4 have experienced a lack of support from their friends and family members.

Nurx’s comprehensive service will include extensive online consultation, recorded patient video, personalized treatment plan, and ongoing check-ins with the Nurx medical team. The video exam requires patients to upload videos completing a series of tasks that test cognitive abilities, cranial nerves, and motor control. And as with all of its healthcare services, Nurx accepts health insurance and offers transparent pricing for those without coverage.

In order to support record patient volume, the company has grown its medical team by 50% in recent months. And Nurx also plans to use the funding to continue expanding its clinical, operations, and engineering teams in the near future.

Today Nurx is available to 90% of the U.S. population and has been recognized by a New England Journal of Medicine study for providing a safe and high-quality experience for patients, including when compared to in-person settings.

KEY QUOTES:

“As the largest and most trusted digital practice for women’s health, our team was well-positioned to leverage our momentum over the last year and meet the surge in demand for our services when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and uprooted our healthcare system. I’m proud of our team’s dedication to providing our patients with the best care possible so they can remain safely at home. Over the last few months, we’ve further accelerated our patient growth across all of our services. We’re excited to build on our vision of treating and managing more sensitive healthcare needs that carry stigma and largely impact women by launching our migraines and headache service.”

— Nurx CEO Varsha Rao

“Nurx has demonstrated consistent growth over the last year and as the pandemic placed strain on our healthcare system, the company was well-positioned to capture the sudden surge in demand for telemedicine services. The Nurx team has established a leadership position with birth control and women’s health while also steadily taking market share across several additional sensitive health conditions. We’re eager to see the team continue their accelerated growth, bolstered by shifting consumer expectations and offerings in new categories.”

— Comcast Ventures Managing Director Sam Landman