Amwell to Acquire Conversa Health, a StartUp Health Portfolio Company
Conversa Health, a virtual care platform backed by StartUp Health in 2014, announced today that it will be acquired by Amwell, a national telehealth leader (NYSE: AMWL). The deal, which also includes the purchase of SilverCloud Health, is priced at approximately $320 million.
Eight years ago, West Shell III and Phil Marshall, MD, MPH, founded Conversa with the vision of improving health outcomes and lowering costs by improving communication between patients and providers between visits. They built a platform that used automated, text-based chat to check in on patients, nudge them towards healthy choices, and escalate their care when necessary. That health moonshot vision, which StartUp Health backed in 2014, is poised for rapid expansion thanks to today’s announcement that Amwell, a publicly traded leader in telehealth (NYSE: AMWL), has agreed to acquire Conversa Health. The deal, which includes the acquisition of SilverCloud, a provider of digital cognitive behavioral health programs, has an aggregate purchase price of approximately $320 million.
“We believe that future care delivery will inevitably blend in-person, virtual, and digital care experiences; and as such, we are uniquely building a global platform to support such advanced, coordinated care,” said Ido Schoenberg, Chairman and Co-CEO, Amwell. “These acquisitions will amplify the presence and reach of care teams and reaffirm that as the needs of the healthcare marketplace evolve, so too will the Amwell platform.”
“Conversa Health pioneered automated virtual care to transform traditional care delivery and dramatically improve patient access, experience, and outcomes while lowering cost,” said Murray Brozinsky, CEO of Conversa. “We’re thrilled to join forces with Amwell, the clear telehealth platform leader, and together to usher in the hybrid care delivery model of the future. Blending physical, virtual, and automated care is a game-changer for patients and providers alike. This is a big step for Conversa and a giant leap for healthcare.”
According to the official announcement, the acquisition will allow Amwell to “leverage Conversa Health’s proprietary patient profiling and health signals engine and library of evidence-based digital pathways to advance initiatives aimed at longitudinal care, clinical quality, and population health.” In addition, Conversa Health’s automated patient outreach and engagement tools will help Amwell improve care coordination, cost management, patient experience, and outcomes.
Today’s news comes after an intense 18-month period of hard decisions and growth for Conversa Health. When COVID hit in early 2020, it was a shock to the entire health innovation ecosystem, and Conversa felt it immediately.
“The big scary thing is we immediately ran out of beds,” recalled Brozinsky on an episode of StartUp Health NOW. “We ran out of ventilators. You can manufacture more ventilators; beds are harder. But it’s the people that are the problem. We’re going to have a shortage of nurses and primary-care physicians, but we haven’t really thought about it. That’s where we came in on the virtual side: How can you do a better job of keeping those people out who can be kept out? How do you do self-care? How do you provide ongoing check-ins?”
In the face of these challenges, the prevailing wisdom was for healthcare startups to cut employees and conserve cash. Conversa did the opposite — they hired more people and doubled down on addressing COVID challenges with their virtual care platform. As a result, over the last 18 months, Conversa saw significant growth in adoption and revenue. They acquired 30 new customers over that time, including enterprise agreements with some of the most influential healthcare organizations in the world. Conversa was named Best Remote Diagnostics Company by UCSF Digital Health Awards in September 2020. In 2021, Conversa was chosen as the #1 Healthcare AI Chatbot by CB Insights. They’ve been featured recently in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Beckers Hospital Review, and TechCrunch. In June, Conversa was named one of the top 50 fastest growing companies by The Silicon Review.
At StartUp Health, today’s news that Conversa’s vision for virtual care is expanding is welcomed not only because it’s validation for a deserving portfolio company, but because it expands the capabilities of three visionary Health Transformers.
“We’ve known West, Murray, and Phil more than two decades and it’s been an absolute thrill to be an investor and collaborator on their amazing journey with Conversa,” says Steven Krein, CEO and Managing Partner at StartUp Health. “We first backed them in 2014 not simply because we liked their vision, but because they had the health moonshot mindset necessary to transform healthcare in fundamental ways. Now, under the umbrella of Amwell, Conversa can help make hybrid care delivery models a reality.”
The Health Transformers at Conversa have been frequent guests on StartUp Health Media. We’ve compiled a few recent clips which lay out the company’s vision and give a glimpse into what an Amwell-Conversa collaboration could accomplish in the future.
Conversa CEO Murray Brozinsky on facing the COVID capacity crisis:
Conversa Co-Founder West Shell III on partnering with Northwell Health:
Amwell co-founder Roy Schoenberg, MD, MPH, at the StartUp Health Festival:
Investors: Learn how you can invest in Health Moonshots through StartUp Health’s new rolling impact fund.
Digital health entrepreneur? Don’t make the journey alone. Learn more about the StartUp Health Community and how StartUp Health invests.
Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.
