Wheel, which operates as Wheel Health, a virtual care marketplace that connects companies from various healthcare-related industries to patients, announced a $50 million Series B funding round led by Lightspeed Ventures.
Existing investors CRV, Silverton Partners, Tusk Venture Partners, J.P. Morgan, and new investor Future Shape also participated in the funding round.
As part of the investment, Lightspeed Senior Advisor Dr. Ling Wong will join Wheel’s board of directors.
Wheel has now raised a total of $66 million, including a $13.9 million Series A round announced in January 2020. The company plans to use the new funds to accelerate growth, expand clinician networks, and continue developing its virtual care marketplace.
Wheel’s virtual care marketplace allows companies to offer virtual care services under their own brand, reaching patients across the United States. The company provides two primary services: telehealth staffing opportunities for clinicians and a scalable virtual care platform for companies.
For Healthcare providers, Wheel helps to get trained, credentialed, and matched to virtual care employment opportunities with its “highly vetted” customer companies. For companies interested in providing virtual care, Wheel provides them with its network of clinicians and a white-label technology platform.
Wheel Health provides its white-labeled service to companies across various industries, including digital health companies, tech companies, retailers, labs, and medical device companies. According to the company, it grew 300% year-over-year and expanded its clinician network by 450% in 2020.
“Imagine being able to pull out your phone and instantly get connected with the best doctor for your care needs,” said Wheel CEO and co-founder Michelle Davey.
“We’re building the technology to make this complex and expensive feat a reality for millions of patients. If we actually want to expand access to healthcare, we need the industry to recognize there is a better way to reach patients than simply bringing the broken system online. That’s why we’re powering the next generation of healthcare companies and clinicians to make virtual care work for everyone.”
Telehealth companies raised $2.4 billion in Q1 2021 compared to $1.2 billion raised in Q4 2020, a 100% increase in QoQ. Year-over-year funding increased by 154% in Q1 2021 compared to $930 million raised in Q1 2020, according to the recently released Mercom’s Q1 2021 Digital Health Funding and M&A Report.
