Getting in on the Ground Floor of Telehealth and Virtual Medicine
In 2006, when New Capital Partners became the first institutional investor in Teladoc, – now the largest and oldest telemedicine company in the country – the telehealth and virtual medicine industry was brand new, and adoption was slow. “People didn’t think telehealth would ever work,” said NCP founding partner James Outland. When Jason Gorevic was hired as the CEO of Teladoc in 2009, the company was “on life support,” as he put it, and the first item on the agenda was raising additional capital. But Gorevic was excited about the opportunity he saw in Teladoc, and Outland shared his enthusiasm.
Gorevic described the partnership between Teladoc and NCP as “multidimensional.” On a big picture level, the two companies shared a vision and recognized untapped potential in a nascent sector. Moreover, because of Outland’s extensive operational experience in the healthcare industry, he brought “an appreciation for the work that needed to be done to turn around the company and take advantage of the opportunity,” Gorevic said. Perhaps most importantly, Gorevic cited Outland’s ability to relate to Teladoc’s customers. Both leaders knew that real value creation could only come from serving the customers’ and patients’ needs better than anyone else.
“We had a lot of challenges to overcome, and NCP was supportive of us, even if we sometimes took slightly unconventional approaches,” Gorevic said. In the following years, NCP helped drive Teladoc’s strategy for market adoption, product development and growth. NCP was also part of Teladoc’s success in growing its network to more than 3,000 licensed healthcare professionals and membership to 20 million members.
Teladoc went public in 2015 (NYSE: TDOC) at $19 per share with an enterprise value of $620 million. Teladoc continues to grow, with Teladoc Health now encompassing Teladoc, Best Doctors, Advance Medical, BetterHelp, and HealthiestYou. With more than 20 million members, Teladoc is the most trusted name in telehealth.
“I am very proud of the work we did with Teladoc,” said Outland. “Despite the slow adoption of telehealth, it is now a mainstream healthcare benefit that’s still growing rapidly. Because we believed in the vision of providing the best care regardless of geographical limitations, we have been able to deliver top-notch healthcare to millions of patients.”