A healthcare startup providing personalized health plans and advised by executives from some of the largest technology and healthcare organizations in the world raised $100 million to expand nationwide.
Forward, which provides direct-to-consumer diagnostic and preventative healthcare, has developed a business around combining artificial intelligence and medical expertise to provide members with health insights focused on disease detection and prevention. The company developed CarePods and apps to support members.
"This is not a doctor's office," proclaims the video on Forward's website. "It's Forward, the world's first AI doctor's office."
CarePods takes a full body scan and pairs results with past health and family history and future wellness goals. It also includes biometrics, blood and genetics testing. Members establish a baseline for care and receive a personalized care plan with apps to guide them along their health journey. The program includes heart health, blood pressure, diabetes, mental health and more.
With the recent $100 million investment, announced Nov. 15, CarePods aims to launch nationwide and double its physical footprint next year. Forward has 19 locations currently and a team of more than 100 primary care clinicians. The company plans to install CarePods in malls, gyms and offices beginning in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.
Membership costs $99 per month and members can access their health data on the company's mobile app. Investors in the company include Khosla Ventures, Softbank, Samsung Next, Google's former CEO Eric Schmidt and John Giannandrea, senior vice president of artificial intelligence at Apple.
Physicians from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Boston-based Harvard and New York City-based Columbia helped develop Forward CarePod and its apps. Forward's board of directors includes:
- Marissa Mayer, former Yahoo CEO
- Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO
- Patrick Pinchette, former Google CFO
- Robert Wachter, MD, chair of the department of medicine at UCSF
- Regina Benjamin, MD, former U.S. Surgeon General