What You Should Know:
– Wheel, an Austin, TX-based provider of white-labeled virtual care services and support announced a $150M series C funding round, co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Tiger Global, bringing its total funding to $216 million to date. The round also included participation from new investors Coatue and Salesforce Ventures along with existing investors CRV, Tusk Venture Partners and Silverton Partners.
Everything companies and clinicians need to deliver anytime, anywhere virtual care
Since launching in 2018, Wheel has become the digital health powerhouse behind the scenes, quietly supporting the virtual care operations for many of the biggest names in health and wellness. That growth exploded last year, and is poised to break out, even more, this year – with Wheel starting to support the next wave of healthcare innovators. Despite some people’s dim outlook on the future market for virtual care, Wheel’s massive funding round – coupled with business interest from this new crop of companies – demonstrates that the market for trusted, high-quality virtual care services is still very hot.
As the entire healthcare industry races to serve patients online, Wheel has invested in an omnichannel solution that helps companies build personalized care journeys for their patients. By building care journeys around patients and their care needs — also known as virtual-first care — patients can easily access care from anywhere and at any time. When companies build on Wheel’s platform, the underlying infrastructure and technology:
– Triages the patient’s care needs and determines the best care setting
– Matches the patient with the best clinician for their care needs across more than a dozen attributes
– Facilitates any necessary follow-up care
Recent Traction/Milestones
Wheel not only powered more than 1.3 million patient visits just last year alone, but the company also projects a 3x increase this year. Wheel’s vast clinician network, which grew 60% YoY, and virtual care platform infrastructure allows companies to do in weeks what it takes 15+ months to build themselves. For clinicians, Wheel also provides a new and better way to work – at a time when clinician stress and burnout is at epic levels. The company has a 90% retention rate for its clinicians.
Wheel will use the funding to further invest in its platform and broaden its white-labeled diagnostic services, enabling companies to integrate direct-to-consumer lab testing and diagnostic follow-up care. The company also plans to double its employee headcount, continue growing its clinician network, invest in its clinical platform, and expand its clinical onboarding and continuing education programs. Additional company milestones include:
– Omnichannel approach: Launched a white-labeled virtual care platform that supports asynchronous chat, on-demand and scheduled video visits, remote patient monitoring, clinician oversight for labs, and follow-up care.
– Comprehensive care: Integrated virtual primary care, behavioral health, urgent care, and diagnostics into one solution. Wheel also launched clinician networks for behavioral health and triage care in the last year.
– Best-in-class patient care: Expanded clinical onboarding program with dedicated resources and 24/7 support. Wheel’s clinician network maintained a 99.9% clinical quality score.
– 24/7 care: Expanded nationwide care coverage while also maintaining industry-low response rates with averages of two-and-a-half minutes for asynchronous visits and 90 seconds for on-demand synchronous visits.
– White-glove service: Expanded client portfolio by 100% year-over-year while growing top accounts by 350%. Wheel’s clients today include digital health companies, clinical lab networks, retailers, traditional healthcare providers, and tech companies.
“Telehealth 1.0 brought healthcare visits online but companies are still struggling to meet their patients’ care needs,” said Wheel CEO and Co-founder Michelle Davey. “We recognized that in order to move the healthcare industry forward and truly deliver on the promise of virtual-first care, we need both the infrastructure and workforce that can deliver ‘anytime, anywhere’ care. We’re excited to continue leading the charge and making personalized care a reality.”
