Telepsychiatry business 1DocWay got acquired by specialty pharmacy business Genoa, giving it an exit four years after its launch. In a short phone interview, CEO and co-founder Samir Malik said the company had come a long way since its start in 2011.
The rise of telemedicine, particularly for psychiatric care where so many regions across the country are underserved, and an increasingly supportive regulatory environment, helped it gain traction.
Malik said the acquisition was an all-cash deal in which its investors “are getting a tremendous IRR and…are tremendously excited by the outcome.”
It raised $1.7 million from 12 investors. Among them are iSeedVC, Rock Health, Asset Management, Great Oaks Venture Capital, and Waterline Ventures. Other investors in the company include Asset Management Ventures and Texas Medical Center, among others.
“We will be able to quadruple our growth as part of Genoa,” Malik said. “We currently operate 60 clinics…We will continue to invest in building the best business in this space.”
The company took part in DreamIt Ventures’ first accelerator in New York. Malik credited the accelerator with being instrumental to helping it navigate as a startup.
Malik’s new role will be as general manager of telepsychiatry. He said it will add developers and continue to grow its customer support staff. Asked if the deal tied him to the company for a certain amount of time, he replied: “I could walk away tomorrow but I’m excited by this opportunity. I want to continue to fulfill our mission.”
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
The deal underscores not only the consolidation trend in healthcare but also the value in transforming care delivery and improving access to care. The value of the global telehealth market is forecast to grow to $34 billion by 2020, according to Mordor Intelligence .
