Carbon Health has been quietly laying plans to take on heavyweight One Medical. Now it's expanding with a fresh $30 million investment led by a top investment firms.
- Carbon Health, the Silicon Valley startup behind a handful of walk-in health clinics, is expanding, the company exclusively told Business Insider.
- As part of a $30 million fundraising round led by the venture arm of global investment firm Brookfield Asset Management, Carbon will be opening its first locations outside of the Bay Area - starting in malls and office parks in Los Angeles and beyond.
- Like other primary care startups including One Medical and Forward, Carbon offers same-day appointments, easy-to-read lab results, travel vaccines, and even some in-house medications.
- Carbon, however, does not charge a monthly subscription fee.
- Eren Bali, Carbon's co-founder and CEO, also created online education platform Udemy and previously made Business Insider's list of Top 100 Innovators.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
The Silicon Valley startup behind a network of modern walk-in health clinics is growing, thanks to support from one of the world's biggest investment firms.
Carbon Health, a San Francisco-based company that offers same-day medical appointments, lab tests, and travel vaccines, is expanding to Los Angeles and eventually to New York, New Jersey, and Nevada, the CEO told Business Insider. The company plans to open new clinics in malls and office parks.
Fueling the expansion is a fresh $30 million investment that Carbon just raised in a funding round led by Brookfield Growth Partners, the venture arm of global investment behemoth Brookfield Asset Management. Josh Raffaeilli, a managing director at Brookfield, is joining Carbon's board of directors.
Since last fall, Carbon has been quietly laying plans to take on rivals like One Medical and Forward, as Business Insider previously reported. To use either One Medical or Forward, patients pay a monthly fee in exchange for a more convenient experience at the doctor's office.
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Carbon works similarly to those services - only without the subscription fee. It also accepts most forms of health insurance (Forward doesn't accept any). In addition to being able to get checkups and access treatments for issues that range from broken bones to antibiotics, Carbon customers also have access to an app, easy scheduling, and video visits with providers.
Carbon's plans to expand beyond the Bay Area
Carbon is far smaller than One Medical, with seven clinics in the Bay Area. One Medical has 72 clinics across seven US cities, and has announced plans to double its footprint. Forward has seven clinics in four US cities.
Over the next 18 months, Carbon will open 15 clinics in California. Its first locations outside the Bay Area will be in Los Angeles. The company's expansion to locations in New York and New Jersey could take slightly longer, but a company spokesperson told Business Insider that at least some clinics could open on the East Coast within a year.
Eren Bali, Carbon Health's co-founder and CEO, hopes the funds will help position his startup to eventually become the largest healthcare provider brand in the nation, he told Business Insider. Part of that work will involve further expansions into areas like dermatology, women's health, and pediatrics, he added.
"We envision health centers which can capture your entire family's health in one setting," Bali, who also previously founded the online education platform Udemy, said.
Several new Carbon Health backers also joined the latest round of financing: Nat Turner and Zach Weinberg, the founders of cancer-technology company Flatiron Health; Vivek Garipalli, the founder of health-insurance startup Clover Health; and the venture firm Data Collective, which has backed successful tech startups like Uber and Square.
Existing Carbon backers, including Builders VC and Two Sigma Ventures, also participated.
From medical software app to comprehensive health clinic
Then last year, Bali started turning his vision into a reality. He worked with Caesar Djavaherian, an emergency medicine doctor who had founded a network of urgent care clinics called Direct Urgent Care, to join Djavaherian's storefronts with Bali's app.
"This solution is all about enabling physicians to be more effective and more efficient," Raffaeilli told Business Insider.
Brookfield is one of the world's biggest investment firms. With more than $365 billion in assets, the 115-year-old company has historically focused on real estate, renewable energy, infrastructure, and private equity. Brookfield Growth Partners, formerly Brookfield Ventures, is Brookfield's tech investing arm, and was founded in 2017.
In addition to its fresh push into storefronts, Carbon Health is bulking up its partnerships with health systems, Bali said. Since last fall, Carbon has been working with a number of California health systems including NorthBay Healthcare and El Camino Hospital, as well as one additional health system outside the state.
Carbon has served more than 100,000 patients to date, Bali told Business Insider. Within the next year, he aims to open clinics with multiple specialists who can offer everything from urgent care and primary care to women's health and pediatric services.
"Building an entire clinic from the ground up is now possible," Bali said.