Eight months after launching its operations, physician ratings site CareDash.com is doing so well that it does not need to raise venture capital. Instead, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company has secured nearly $2 million in financing without the founder having to cede additional equity.
CareDash this week said it has landed close to $1 million in venture debt financing and another $1 million line of credit from Link Ventures. That IT investment firm already holds a majority stake in the startup from a $500,000 seed round in May 2014, according to CareDash CEO and Founder Ted Chan and Crunchbase.
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“There is no need for them to take dilution” by purchasing additional shares with venture capital when the company really just needs operating capital,” Chan said.
CareDash also has several angel investors, including former Thomson Financial Chairman and CEO Jeff Parker, ex-McGraw-Hill Publishing Chairman Ron Schlosser and Food Network Founder Joe Langhan.
CareDash actually operates a portfolio of consumer health media sites, including unsugarize.com, which helps people with or at risk for diabetes control their sugar intake. But the titular rating site went live in June 2016 and already claims more than 30,000 physician reviews.
“We’re collecting review data at a rate of 3,000 to 4,000 a month,” Chan said. The company brought in $6.7 million in revenue last year and is profitable, thanks in no small part to finding a somewhat untapped niche in the physician ratings world: low- to middle-income communities.
“We’re very similar to Vitals and Healthgrades in terms of what we’re doing,” Chan acknowledged. But those sites tend to have a more affluent user base.
“We want to see a review distribution that spans the whole population,” Chan said. “There’s a business opportunity in covering areas that are less covered.”
According to Chan, CareDash refuses to accept payments from physicians to hide or remove negative reviews. “We’re focused on transparency and inclusion and providing the right information to the right audience,” he said.
Image: CareDash.com
