Startups

RetraceHealth, a concierge care provider using nurse practitioners, is raising $7M Series A round

RetraceHealth has added Lemhi Ventures to its team of investors.

nurse practitioner

This post has been updated with additional comments from RetraceHealth CEO Thompson Aderinkomi.

A healthcare startup that developed a concierge care service tapping nurse practitioners for telemedicine and house call visits has raised more than $6.5 million in a Series A round led by new investor Lemhi Ventures. RetraceHealth CEO Thompson Aderinkomi confirmed the information in a phone interview.

RetraceHealth’s Form D filing from the website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suggests it seeks to raise more than $7 million. Aderinkomi said it would reach its investment target with another investment that has yet to close.

Lemhi Ventures, a Wayzata, Minnesota-based firm, also counts PokitDok, Recondo Technology, Digital Reasoning, and PlanSource among its other health IT investments.

Earlier this year, RetraceHealth raised $1 million from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, HealthEast Care System in Minnesota, and McKesson Ventures.

The company charges $60 for video visits, $150 for home visits and $190 for a home visit with a lab service to assess things such as cholesterol levels, diabetes and high blood pressure.

In a phone interview later in the day, Aderinkomi said it would use the funding to market its business to regional insurers and to enhance its service “to make it more delightful and enjoyable” to use, such as automating some features as well as service extensions. He noted that it is also pursuing technology partnerships.

Aderinkomi made a point about the language he uses to describe his company and the service it offers. I questioned his use of the word “delightful”. He said, “The best way to get a customer to use your service repeatedly is to make it delightful for them. Delight is a great word. It implies getting more than what you paid for.”

He also doesn’t like RetraceHealth to be referred to as a telemedicine business — it sees itself more as a primary care clinic that comes to patients.

“It took awhile before people believed you could order something on Amazon and it would be as good as something you could get at Target or Walmart.

Aderinkomi said it had tripled its provider pools, a group that consists mostly of nurse practitioners but with some registered nurses as well. He declined to provide specific numbers, but he added that he would like to have 100 nurse practitioners in the next 12 months.

Although Minneapolis-St Paul and the surrounding metro region are its primary source of business, it also serves patients in Duluth and other areas. Although there is plenty of competition in the telemedicine space, not as many companies have Minnesota in their sites.

Photo: Flickr user DIBP Images

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