Digital Healthcare Leader Accolade Goes Public on Nasdaq, Raises $220 Million

Recently, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned that healthcare technology company Accolade (stock ticker: “ACCD”) has listed on the NASDAQ in the United States, with an offering price of $22 per share, 10 million shares issued, and $220 million raised.

Accolade, founded in 2007 and headquartered in Pennsylvania, USA, is a rapidly growing healthcare company. The company primarily provides enterprises with personalized health and medical benefits solutions, such as health plan design and medical consultation, to improve employers’ healthcare experience, outcomes, and costs. Accolade excels in optimizing healthcare processes, enhancing healthcare savings, boosting employee engagement, and delivering customized personalized advocacy.

Accolade’s team brings expertise in healthcare, consumer services, software technology, and data science, dedicated to helping users reduce medical costs and improve their healthcare experience. With its high user satisfaction, Accolade has been named by Forbes as one of the 25 most promising companies in the United States.

Accolade CEO Rajeev Singh

Accolade’s CEO, Rajeev Singh, joined the company in 2015 as a board member and investor. Mr. Singh graduated from Western Michigan University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering. In 1993, he co-founded Concur, a global leader in consumer travel management. Starting in product management and R&D, he spent 11 years at the company, ultimately serving as President, Chief Operating Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors. During his nine-year tenure in leadership roles, he oversaw all operational functions, including sales and marketing, customer service, R&D, and human resources. Under his leadership, Concur’s revenue grew from $60 million to over $800 million, culminating in its acquisition by German enterprise resource planning software company SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) for $8.3 billion in 2014.

Accolade has completed nine rounds of financing since its establishment in 2007, with a total amount reaching $237 million.

Accolade's Funding History

Accolade’s most recent financing round occurred in October 2019, when the company completed a $20 million corporate financing exclusively invested by Humana, a health insurance services provider, to expand the collaborative business between Accolade and Humana.

In March 2018, Accolade completed a $50 million Series F financing round. The proceeds were primarily used to expand its workforce and enhance its personalized health management solutions. The round was led by existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Carrick Capital Partners, Madrona Venture Group, and McKesson Ventures.

In June 2016, Accolade completed a $71.1 million Series E financing round. The proceeds were primarily allocated to its newly launched “Premium Services” program, which is specifically designed for patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. This round was led by Madrona Venture Group along with other institutional investors.

Prior to this, Accolade raised a total of $121 million in financing in 2015, 2014, 2013, 2010, and 2007.

Leveraging artificial intelligence technology and its clinical team, Accolade builds a communication bridge among healthcare providers, enterprises, and employees. Through its three distinct personalized healthcare and health benefits solutions, the company helps businesses optimize employee medical benefits while controlling healthcare costs. The company’s main offerings includeAccolade Total Benefits，Accolade Total CareandAccolade Total Health and BenefitsThree Health Service Products.

Accolade Personalized Health Management Product Comparison

Accolade’s three-tiered product suite progressively addresses the diverse healthcare needs of employees across enterprises.Accolade Total BenefitsIt is a foundational product launched by the company. Through this product, enterprises can enhance employee participation in medical benefit programs, provide personalized support to help employees understand and maximize their healthcare benefits, and thereby increase their overall satisfaction.

Accolade Total Careis the company'sAccolade Total Benefitsan upgraded version that provides personalized medical service plans for corporate employees and offers comprehensive support throughout the healthcare journey, including free matching with healthcare providers. Powered by artificial intelligence technology and a database of healthcare service providers,Accolade Total CareProvide employees with appointment scheduling, healthcare navigation, post-visit follow-up, and ongoing guidance to significantly reduce their medical expenses.

Accolade Total Health and BenefitsAs the flagship offering of the Accolade product line, it is designed to provide enterprise clients with premier medical benefits management services, replacing membership services within corporate health plans while delivering comprehensive healthcare management and highly engaged healthcare providers. This solution improves the health outcomes of employee populations and delivers significant, sustainable healthcare cost savings.

Accolade positions itself as a company that provides professional healthcare services to corporate employees, with its business centered on the Accolade Health Assistant platform and a clinical team model. By comprehensively collecting employee health data and information, and leveraging medical analytics tools alongside its proprietary clinical team model, Accolade delivers personalized consultation and diagnostic services to patients.

By analyzing and synthesizing data from 16 million health insurance claims, Accolade guides corporate employees to access the right healthcare services at the right time, thereby enhancing employee engagement and satisfaction with healthcare. In addressing health issues such as musculoskeletal disorders, diabetes, telemedicine, behavioral health, women’s health, and medical financial wellness, Accolade also provides technical support to enterprises on how to implement and manage healthcare solutions.

When users have medical needs, they can directly contact the Accolade Health Assistant via phone, mobile app, or PC web portal. Backing the Accolade Health Assistant is a team of qualified medical technology professionals. The combination of this technological platform and clinical team directly guides users to appropriate medical services, eliminating the hassle of patients seeking care without clear direction. Throughout the entire healthcare journey, Accolade continuously monitors patients’ health and well-being, providing timely technical support, thereby building patient trust in Accolade.

The integration of the Accolade Health Assistant platform with the clinical team model delivers a minimalist healthcare service experience for patients.

The Accolade Health Assistant Platform, powered by artificial intelligence, autonomously identifies employees’ healthcare needs, predicts their behaviors, and recommends relevant medical services, delivering highly personalized healthcare support to individuals and their families.

The goal of this health assistant platform is to help corporate employees access the right medical services, appropriate healthcare, and top-tier physicians at the right time.

The cloud-based Accolade Health Assistant platform integrates the most extensive collection of personal health data and information, including medical benefit plans, medical claims, biometric data, risk scores, demographics, and interaction data between the platform and corporate employees.

The clinical team model consists of a multidisciplinary team comprising registered nurses, physicians, pharmacists, medical social workers, and medical specialists, who provide rigorous evidence-based medical recommendations to corporate employees.

Accolade’s clinical team maintains close communication with corporate employees to understand their healthcare needs and living circumstances, thereby earning their trust. This approach helps employees access the right medical services at the right time, reducing their healthcare burden.

The clinical team has extensive experience in complex cases, chronic disease management, prenatal and postpartum care, and mental health, providing employees with reliable decision support for treatment plans.

Currently, Accolade’s four largest corporate clients are Comcast, American Airlines, Lowe’s, and State Farm; revenue from these four major customers accounted for 59% of Accolade’s fiscal year 2020 total.

Accolade: Revenue and Loss Statistics for Fiscal Years 2018–2020

As of February 29, 2020, Accolade’s revenue for fiscal year 2020 was $132.5 million, compared with $76.83 million and $94.81 million in fiscal years 2018 and 2019, respectively. Meanwhile, Accolade reported a net loss of $51.365 million for fiscal year 2020, compared with net losses of $61.286 million and $56.496 million in fiscal years 2018 and 2019, respectively.

In July 2020, Accolade successfully went public on the Nasdaq. On its listing day, Accolade opened at $35 per share, a 59% increase over its IPO price, and closed at $29.70 per share, representing a 35% gain from the IPO price. Based on the closing price, Accolade’s market capitalization stood at $1.386 billion. Accolade was also the only company in Seattle to go public in the first half of 2020, demonstrating strong growth momentum and promising future prospects.

Currently, Accolade serves 58 companies across the United States in sectors including news media, technology, transportation, energy, retail, and financial services, providing healthcare navigation solutions to over 1.6 million employees to help improve their healthcare experience. Compared with its 20 corporate clients in 2018, the number of clients has more than doubled, as Accolade continues to expand its market presence nationwide.