Lab tests were always an important aspect of healthcare, even before people were spending hours in line to get tested for COVID-19. And while it’s normal to get routine tests and bloodwork when you visit your doctor, at-home medical tests offer a level of convenience that could make a big difference in an individual’s well-being.
Austin-based Everlywell was founded in 2015 to make lab tests more accessible, offering at-home tests for everything from fertility tests to food sensitivity tests, STD tests, Lyme disease tests, HIV tests and many more. Some of these tests cost as little as $49.
Since launch the company has seen significant success. On Thursday, Everlywell announced that it raised $175 million in an oversubscribed Series D financing round. This round is 7X bigger than the $25 million Series C round it raised in February, and brings the company’s total funding to over $250 million to date.
Of course, digital health solutions have seen a huge boost since February. Everlywell has experienced this firsthand, with total sales expected to quadruple in 2020 compared to last year. The company also expanded to more than 10,000 retail locations, selling its products in Target, Walgreens, CVS and Kroger stores across the country.
Everlywell made headlines earlier this year when the Food and Drug Administration authorized its at-home COVID-19 test. This was important because it was the first authorized COVID-19 test that allowed people to self-collect a nasal sample at home and then send it in for testing.
Despite the popularity of Everlywell’s COVID-19 test, the company also saw sales grow by at least 100 percent year-over-year for most of its other tests as well.
This new funding will help the company expand its testing infrastructure, build upon its virtual care platform, invest in clinical research and otherwise grow its national presence.
“The pandemic has shed light on the challenges of lab testing for Americans, from unknown costs to confusion and inconvenience. We’ve been empowering people with a new way to get tested for five years and will continue to lead the way in a rapidly expanding space,” Everlywell CEO and founder Julia Cheek said in a statement. “We believe lab testing will be rapid, simple and coupled with virtual care in the near future. This partnership with additional world-class investors enables us to build a transformative, multi-generational digital health company that puts people first — where they belong.”
