Gil Addo is the CEO and co-founder of RubiconMD, a healthcare start-up with a lofty sounding mission: To democratize access to medical expertise. The company, which was launched on a relative shoestring in March 2013, is a tech platform that matches primary care doctors with online, on-demand consults from vetted specialists. Addo, a first generation American, got the idea when he watched his grandmother, from Barbados, struggle to find access to expertise when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. “Where you live determines the kind of care you receive,” he says. “It’s pretty clear.”
His parents – his father is from Ghana and his mother is from Barbados – arrived in the U.S. with little, but both managed to make it through four-year universities and eventually establish themselves in the middle class. Addo studied biomedical engineering at Yale and got his MBA at Harvard. His co-founders have similar pedigrees, one is board certified in internal medicine. As origin stories go, it’s a great one.
He describes a recent experience with a mid-tier, West Coast venture firm that went well, until it didn’t. “We met their valuation requirements,” he says. The tech passed muster, and there was real enthusiasm for the business model from the limited partners. The term “in our wheelhouse” was thrown around. Then the man who would lead the investment committee took an in-person meeting. The firm promptly passed.
“There is one logical conclusion,” Addo says calmly. “It was us.” Though there may be a growing acceptance of young black entrepreneurs in sectors like fashion, entertainment, and consumer brands, in more conservative industries like healthcare, there is still limited representation. “The difference between someone with a great idea and a great business is access to capital,” he says. “Are you still worth investing in when you don’t fit the mold?”
RubiconMD closed a $4 million series A this month, in a round led by Waterline Ventures out of Cambridge, Mass. They’ll be working on making changes to improve clinician workflow and data analytics. With some $1.5 billion being poured into transforming the primary care experience, Addo says, it’s a segment that makes sense.
But it’s the double bottom line that makes RubiconMD a poster child for diverse founders and unconventional business thinking. It’s worth the risk, he says. The company is revenue producing, operating in 26 states, and nearly half the population they serve are Medicaid-eligible or otherwise vulnerable, people who don’t typically see the kind of doctors who have top specialists on speed dial. “Health care is a public good regardless of where you are,” he says. “We’re building a great business that helps the underserved.”