Best Telemedicine Startups

Besides the high demand for convenience and lower drug prices, there are several key factors driving the rapid growth of direct to consumer telemedicine startups. Here are three:

COVID-19 shelter in place

Although telemedicine offerings had been growing steadily prior to 2020, nothing accelerated its adoption like the global pandemic. It was not longer a question of preference —  in person vs video chatting with a doctor — we all were forced to experiment with virtual care, or forgo medical attention altogether. The number of telemedicine startups emerging during quarantine is astounding, and all indications are that most will continue to thrive in this “new normal” long after it’s safe to mingle in public.

Tasteful rebranding of popular generics

While some telemedicine companies like Blink Health or Teledoc are essentially online pharmacies that offer every drug under the sun, other D2C telemedicine startups are focused on branding narrow sets of generic drugs needed within niche groups. Examples include Ro’s family of distinct brands that now includes Roman (for men’s hair loss and ED), Zero (for smokers), and Rory (for women with menopause). An impressive side effect of this is a rapid decrease in the price of particular medicines.

Similarly Hims caters to males with hair loss and ED pills, but has also created a separate brand called Hers for prescriptions specific to women.

While it’s not hard to beat Cialis or Finasteride from a branding perspective, this new breed of telemedicine startups is investing a ton in their own brand image. Like Hubble contacts did, most work with high-end design agency to craft the perfect look, feel, and voice for their audience.

Note that these niched-down brands tend to focus on lower-risk prescription categories with cheap generics. No one has created a DTC telemedicine brand for blood pressure medication, for instance. Well, not yet, anyway… When that day comes, you can expect a sleek modern website.

Heavy advertising investment

Although there’s plenty of red tape around advertising  prescription meds, new direct to consumer telemedicine brands are pushing the limits of paid media. Given the stickiness of their subscription offerings (high recurring revenue without high churn), these startups are willing to pay a lot to acquire new customers, shelling out buckets of venture-raised cash on social media ads, SEM, affiliate programs, and offline channels like radio, TV, and billboards. If you visit a D2C telemedicine brand’s site, don’t be surprised if you start seeing their ads everywhere!

Eye-catching free trials

Again, D2C telemedicine startups understand that Rx customers have a high lifetime value (LTV). Offering an appealing free trial is an effective way of drawing more people in the door. A “first month free” (or heavily discounted trial period) is almost universal among modern telemedicine brands. Check out the examples below: