WELL Health Technologies has invested $18.2 million in Circle Medical, giving them majority control of the Silicon Valley healthcare startup.
In tandem to this Circle Medical announcement, WELL announced that it has received an additional $23 million investment from Li ka-Shing, a previous WELL investor and major investor in Zoom, Spotify, and Impossible Foods.
With the U.S. virtual healthcare market expected to reach $3.5 billion by 2022 and the demand for telehealth solutions skyrocketing during the COVID-19 pandemic, WELL is positioning itself as a leader in healthcare technology.
While the U.S. excels at building world-class healthcare experiences, increasing adoption rates and demand for virtual solutions, there is a discrepancy with the availability of physicians to support.
Through this strategic control investment in Circle, WELL will unlock cross-border healthcare access with Canadian physicians (licensed in certain U.S. states) to better balance the supply and demand for primary care physicians within the U.S. in order to provide all North Americans with improved healthcare.
RELATED: Five Investments In BC Technology You Can Make Today
Circle Medical is a modern clinic that offers primary care without a membership fee. A Y-Combinator graduate, Circle Medical has Canadian connections of its own.
Circle co-founders George Favvas and Jean-Sébastien Boulanger are both originally from Montreal and moved to San Francisco to pursue the development and growth of Circle Medical. Part of the duo’s immediate plan is to open a software development office in Montreal and by doing so truly make Circle Medical a cross border US/Canada operation.
As part of the Transaction, WELL will obtain exclusive rights to offer and/or commercialize Circle Medical’s technology in Canada, at its option, and with Circle Medical’s support and guidance.