- MDLive is planning to go public in 2021 following the news of Teladoc-Livongo’s mega-deal.
- But MDLive isn’t the only company joining the IPO club, we also expect Doctor on Demand and 98point6 to go public within the next year.
- Insider Intelligence publishes hundreds of insights, charts, and forecasts on the Digital Health industry with the Digital Health Briefing. You can learn more about subscribing here.
The telehealth leader is planning to go public in early 2021 following unprecedented uptake of its services during the pandemic: Its behavioral health visits rose 89% in May compared with January’s averages — and it now tallies 40 million members, marking 187% annual growth in its membership base. MDLive CEO Charles Jones noted that Teladoc’s $18.5 billion blockbuster acquisition of Livongo last week spurred the decision to move toward a public offering, per STAT.
Business Insider Intelligence
The Teladoc-Livongo megadeal is already influencing virtual health players to make bold plays to keep pace — and we expect MDLive will do so by making a remote monitoring tech acquisition. We posited the sheer size of the Teladoc-Livongo megamerger would threaten other digital healthcare players — who would have to move quickly to diversify, or nab health tech partnerships to retain their competitive edge.
Thus, we think an acquisition of a remote monitoring firm with chronic disease management tools similar to Livongo’s could be on the horizon for MDLive: Jones told us in April that there will be a “trend where remote monitoring tools are … invested in and deployed, which is going to facilitate even more remote diagnosis.” In particular, we think it’ll eye startups like Lark Health or Kaia Health — both of which have raised notable funding and have digital programs that help users manage chronic conditions.
MDLive is just the latest company to join the telehealth IPO club — here are two candidates we expect to go public within the next year:
- Doctor on Demand. The telehealth vendor recently raised $75 million in funding — catapulting its total funding to a whopping $236 million. Considering its most recent funding haul will be dedicated in part to broadening its mental health services, we think an IPO would help it raise the cash needed to deepen its telemental health presence: We could see the telehealth giant launch a data-driven suite of mental health solutions, for instance.
- 98point6. The text-based telehealth vendor bagged $43 million in Series D funding in April to triple its clinician workforce, mounting its total funding to $129 million. It’s seen a 200% uptick in patient volume amid the pandemic and struck commercial contracts with major employers like Boeing and Chipotle. We spoke to CEO Robbie Cape, who indicated his goal of serving underserved populations more broadly within the next five years — and we think an IPO would give the company enough capital to build out its tech infrastructure to support these areas, like the rural US, where poor connectivity has traditionally limited telehealth adoption.
Want to read more stories like this one? Here’s how you can gain access:
- Join other Insider Intelligence clients who receive this Briefing, along with other Digital Health forecasts, briefings, charts, and research reports to their inboxes each day. >> Become a Client
- Explore related topics more in depth. >> Browse Our Coverage
Are you a current Insider Intelligence client? Log in here.