Providing virtual care for women and families, Maven Clinic takes a $110M round

Steven Loeb · August 17, 2021 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/52e8

The company saw its membership increase 400% over the last year

There are a lot of companies looking to disrupt the primary care space, coming at it from different angles. For example, some are trying to reinvent in-person clinics, others are creating better collaboration tools between doctors, and others are focusing on in-home care.

Maven Clinic takes a different approach by focusing on a specific population: women and families.

The company provides programs around aspects of women's healthcare such as preconception, egg freezing, IVF, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, returning to work and pediatrics, as well as programs for partners of people going through pregnancy or IVF. The company then sells these digital programs to both employers and health plans to roll out to their members.

"Hubert Humphry once said, 'The way we treat our children in the dawn of their lives and the way we treat our elderly in the twilight of their lives is a measure of the quality of a nation.' We have made a lot of progress in Medicare. The time is now to shift the conversation and invest significantly at the beginning of life. If we do that well, we have the opportunity to make an impact on the health status for generations to come," Sonia Millsom, Maven's Chief Commercial Officer, told VatorNews.

"Women’s and family health has been underserved for decades, but there is growing recognition that when you invest in this space, you’re able to make a real difference on the challenges that have plagued healthcare. I’ve worked in healthcare my whole career and I’ve never been more excited about the potential for real change than I am today."

The company's focus has certainly caught the interest of investors, Maven announced a big new round on Tuesday, closing $110 million in Series D funding to bring its total raised to over $200 million.

The round was co-led by Dragoneer Investment Group and Lux Capital, with participation from BOND and existing investors Sequoia, Oak HC/FT, and Icon Ventures. Oprah Winfrey also joined as an investor; the company has previously raised funding from such noteworthy celebrity investors as Reese Witherspoon, Natalie Portman, Mindy Kaling, and Anne Wojcicki.

"This is a record-breaking fundraise for a company in our space and it’s great recognition for the work we’ve done at Maven, and the care model we’ve built that puts women and families at the center," said Millsom.

All visits on Maven are done virtually, and patients get access to over 1,400 vetted women’s and family health practitioners across over 20 specialties. They can book video chats or message practitioners and then pick up their prescriptions, including birth control, at their local pharmacy.

Maven is free for individuals; the company then sells its digital programs to both employers and health plans to roll out to their members.

Since raising its $45 million Series C round in February of last year, the company has partnered with four new Fortune 15 clients, including Microsoft, leading to a 400% membership increase in Maven's employer and payer-sponsored programs. Other clients include Boston Scientific, Booz Allen Hamilton, and L'Oreal.

"I am incredibly proud of how Maven was able to respond to the pandemic and support patients when they felt most vulnerable during a global health emergency," Millsom told me.

"Some of that growth has to do with how the pandemic opened people’s eyes to what digital health can do. But it also goes to the broader story of unmet need in our space. Women and families remain underserved by a one-size-fits-all healthcare system. Maven is building a personalized experience for them and for every organization seeking to improve outcomes during this critical moment - the start of a family."

The company plans to use its new funding to build out its product and to expand into new populations, including deepening its capabilities to support higher risk populations, including families on Medcaid, as well as growing its international reach; right now, 40% of Maven's members are considered high risk.

The company is building a care model that is capable of meeting every person who is starting a family where they are and adapting to their unique needs, Millsom said, and the next step for Maven to make it more personalized and tailored to every member and their unique needs.

"No two paths to parenthood look the same and we want to be able to meet each member where they are," said Millsom. "We have ambitions to make a system wide impact, especially for vulnerable and high risk populations. We want everyone to be able to have the same level of personalized patient experience and deliver amazing outcomes."

Updated to include comment from Sonia Millsom, Maven's Chief Commercial Officer.

(Vator and UCSF Health Hub are teaming up for an event in November called "Primary Care and the New Medical QB," in which we will be talking to various stakeholders in the healthcare system, including providers, patients, and startups, about this change)

(Image source: mavenclinic.com)