Cityblock raises $192M to expand its model across the country

A provider of healthcare services for lower-income communities, Cityblock has seen 3x revenue growth

If there's one thing that's become clear over the past year, it's that the old model of having someone come and sit in a doctor's office, see a physician for 15 minutes, and then not have any contact with their doctor until their next health problem, is on its way out. The companies that are rethinking and revamping the way care is delivered are the ones that are going to thrive.

One of those companies is Cityblock, which has deployed a model that takes care back to the neighborhood level, in order to help marginalized communities. It does this by partnering with local community-based organizations to help its members get access to primary care, behavioral health care, and social services. 

The company, which saw 3x year-over-year revenue growth, announced a $192 million Series C extension funding round led by new investor Tiger Global on Monday. Existing investors, including Kinnevik AB, Maverick Ventures, General Catalyst, Wellington Management, Thrive Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Echo Health Ventures, 8VC, and AIMS Imprint of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, also participated. 

This is an extension of the $160 million Series C round the company raised in December, which was led by General Catalyst, and it brings Cityblock's total fundraising to about $500 million.

Founded in 2017, Cityblock provides value-based healthcare for Medicaid and lower-income Medicare through its technology platform, called Commons. It includes a communications interface, which allows care teams to text and have video chats with members. It also has an information-share and organization component, to help care teams keep track of members. In addition, Commons also provides real-time clinical decision support and evidence-based protocols.  

In Cityblock's first member cohort, the company was able to see a 15% reduction in emergency room visits and a 20% reduction in in-patient hospital stays. The company has also seen around 70% member engagement, compared to the health plan average of 5% to 7% member engagement.

The company currently serves 70,000 members across New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Washington, DC. Cityblock says it will use the new funding to expand deployment of its community and value-based care model nationwide.

A model like Cityblock's has only become more important after COVID exposed the inequalities of the healthcare system. The virus had a much greater impact on underserved communities, particularly racial and ethnic minorities, with Pacific Islanders, Hispanics/Latinos, African Americans and Indigenous Americans all having a COVID-19 death rate of double or more that of white and Asian Americans.

In order to ensure equal distribution of the COVID vaccine, last week Cityblock announced the opening of a new, permanent COVID-19 vaccination site in collaboration with New York City and the Brooksville Company at Spring Creek Towers, an affordable housing development in the Starrett City section of Brooklyn.  

“Cityblock addresses a massive need in the US supporting the most vulnerable population groups with a community-based, scalable care model. This is a great example how value-based care can transform the healthcare experience and achieve sustainable change, even for populations which are fundamentally disadvantaged in today’s healthcare system," Georgi Ganev, CEO of Kinnevik, which contributed $30 million of the round, said in statement. 

"We are proud to continue to support the founders Toyin Ajayi and Iyah Romm by investing well above pro-rata as they expand the model across the US.”

(Image source: cityblock.com)