Virgin Group announces investment in Sesame
Virgin Group has announced an investment in Sesame, a company that lowers the price of medical care for American consumers.
Sesame has raised $27m in total in its Series B funding to expand its national marketplace of ultra-affordable medical care for Americans, whether they are insured or not.
Virgin Group participated in the fundraising round, which was led by GV (formerly Google Ventures) as new investors, alongside TeleSoft Partners, FMZ Ventures, and existing investors General Catalyst, Industry Ventures, Coefficient Capital, Giant Ventures and Alumni Ventures Group.
Sesame delivers half-price, whole-quality medical care through innovation where legislation and bureaucracy have failed, ensuring that no American is priced out of accessing the primary and specialised care that they require. In fact, the average price paid for care in the Sesame Marketplace is less than $40. The company also maintains a Net Promoter score of 87 and nearly 80% of physicians in the Sesame Marketplace have five-star ratings.
Sesame is a two-sided marketplace populated by physicians and patients. Just like other online marketplaces, consumers can research and shop for a physician – and book an appointment – with the same price transparency and zero-friction they experience when completing other transactions.
Sesame offers complete, longitudinal health care delivered either in-person or via telehealth – this includes primary care, acute consultations and chronic care management, specialty medicine, dentistry, labs, imaging and more – for as little as $25 per visit across the US.
Healthcare providers are leveraging Sesame’s tools for maximising the value of their time and equipment, just as in any other industry, to offer variable pricing based on peak and off-peak windows.
"The same high-quality care from the same world-class physicians at a fraction of the typical price; this is the radical innovation that is Sesame," said David Goldhill, Sesame co-founder and CEO, and the author of The Real Costs of American Health Care. "By stripping out all the cost and complexity of insurance, physicians offer care on Sesame at prices that are roughly half of what is typical. The quality of our investors is a testament to the power of this innovation."
As well as accelerating the company’s growth, Sesame will use the Series B proceeds to evolve its Sesame membership product from beta into general availability. The Sesame membership works on a monthly subscription basis, and gives members access to free services, deep discounts and exclusive access to all of the everyday care services that matter most: primary care visits, prescriptions, dental, labs, imaging and more.
Visit Sesame to find out more.