Healthcare
See the 11-slide presentation that sold General Catalyst on a 21-year-old founder’s at-home lab-testing platform for Latin America
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- Examedi is helping patients in Latin America get lab tests at home for a fraction of the cost.
- The Chilean startup raised a $17 million Series A round led by General Catalyst.
- CEO Ian Lee said it’s taking a page out of Uber’s book by bringing nurses to patients’ homes.
Ian Lee’s first year of college lasted only three months.
Living in Chile but taking remote classes at a university in Canada, he spent his free time working on a healthcare solution for his dad, a smoker who desperately needed a blood test but hadn’t gotten one in years.
Getting a blood test in Latin America, Lee said, is time-consuming and expensive. In his experience, patients spend hours waiting in retail labs for tests that take 10 minutes, and the labs frequently mark up the prices 300% or more, he said.
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So he dropped out of school to focus on simplifying the process.
“My mentality was, as long as my dad can use it, I’m happy,” said Lee, who’s now 21.
Just over a year later, Examedi, the at-home-testing startup that he started with three other young entrepreneurs, has banked $17 million in Series A funding led by General Catalyst, bringing its total funding to almost $21 million.
Angel investors — including Jamie Karraker, a cofounder and co-CEO of Alto Pharmacy; Thomaz Srougi, the founder of Dr. Consulta; and Sebastian Mejia, a cofounder of Rappi — also participated in the Series A, building on top of seed funding that Examedi raised in graduating from the startup accelerator Y Combinator in 2021.
The Chilean government offers free healthcare to all residents, which about 78% of the population takes advantage of, while most of the remainder opt into private insurance plans to skirt crowded hospitals with long wait times. Still, the prices of different lab tests, paid out of pocket or not, vary wildly depending on the lab where the patient receives the service, and the costs can add up fast as doctors often ask patients to undergo multiple tests.
Through Examedi, Lee, the company’s CEO, wants to bring the ease of ride-hailing apps, such as Uber, to healthcare delivery in Latin America. Patients can order a COVID-19 test, blood test, or even a vaccine, and nurses choose to come to each patient’s house to provide the service like an Uber driver accepting a ride.
Then Examedi ships tests off to the lab for analysis and charges patients a fraction of the going price. Where a typical round of blood tests might cost about $100 in Chile out of pocket, Lee said, Examedi charges about $40. After the lab takes a fraction of that and Examedi pays the nurse who administered the test, the startup takes home $12 on average of the $40, he said.
The startup also offers STI tests, plus kinesiology sessions for uses such as muscular rehabilitation, which was added to the platform upon popular demand, Lee said. The startup is working with user feedback to test out more services to offer.
Examedi is available in Chile and Mexico, with patients in dozens of cities — but most seek services in the capital cities Santiago and Mexico City. The startup plans to use some of the funding on product development and the remaining capital to expand into new areas, with its eyes set on breaking into Colombia by the end of the year and into Peru in 2023.
In the long term, Lee said, Examedi plans to go beyond lab testing and connect patients with other healthcare services, including medication delivery and primary care.
See the 11-slide presentation Examedi used to raise $17 million in Series A funding.
Examedi provides on-demand lab tests and other healthcare services to people in Latin America in their own homes.
Examedi
The startup offers COVID-19 tests, blood tests, and vaccines, and it recently added kinesiology sessions, which are typically used to rehabilitate muscles.
Examedi
The COVID-19 tests take about five minutes to complete in a patient’s home, while blood tests take about 15 minutes, Lee said. Kinesiology sessions runs closer to an hour.
In Chile, Lee said, patients can spend months on a waiting list before getting a lab test. Then the retail labs, where patients receive the test, charge up to 400% of what the test costs, he said.
Examedi
Patients using Examedi can schedule to receive a test or service for the next day from the comfort of their homes.
Examedi charges about $40 for each visit, a fraction of the cost that retail labs usually charge for tests in Chile and Mexico, Lee said.
Examedi
After tests are sent to the lab for analysis, the lab takes about $18, Examedi pays its nurses about $8 per visit, and the medical supplies the nurses use cost the startup about $1. That leaves Examedi with $12 per visit on average, Lee said.
Nurses on Examedi’s platform can choose which visits they want to do, which allows them to set their own schedules and add as many visits as they want on top of their full-time jobs — or to work full-time hours with Examedi instead.
Examedi
Examedi’s services are available in Chile and Mexico, with hubs in the capital cities Santiago and Mexico City. Lee said the startup plans to expand into Colombia by the end of the year and into Peru in 2023.
Examedi
Examedi is fully connected to both private and public health insurers in Chile and Mexico, Lee said. The startup also wants to work with companies to simplify necessary healthcare services for their employees, including drug testing.
Examedi
Almost 30% of all healthcare costs in Latin America are paid directly by the patient.
Lee, now 21 years old, was named one of this year’s Thiel Fellows. Started by the tech investor Peter Thiel, the two-year fellowship awards $100,000 to young entrepreneurs.
Examedi
Examedi’s long-term vision is to connect all of the stakeholders in healthcare in Latin America to give patients easier, at-home access to whichever services they need.
Examedi
While patients pay for each service individually, Examedi plans to create a subscription model for those who need more regular testing.
Examedi
Examedi is also working on some partnerships, including with pharmacies, that focus on patients with diabetes. The idea is to bundle the necessary medications provided by the pharmacy, plus lab tests required by the patient, and send them to the patient’s house on a routine basis.
Examedi
Lee said Examedi is testing out other healthcare services to add.