Zest Health Files for IPO Following $6M Series A to Empower Savvy Healthcare Consumers

Zest Health, founded in 2013, is a technology company that has created a new type of health and wellness experience. The company is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Its team comprises business leaders, healthcare professionals, and engineers, united by a mission to fundamentally transform how consumers make healthcare decisions. Consumer-centric in its approach, Zest Health aims to empower users to navigate and utilize the healthcare system with greater ease, flexibility, and confidence, thereby becoming savvy healthcare consumers.

Brad Keywell, the founder of Zest Health, is a distinguished entrepreneur. In addition to this company, he has founded or co-founded multiple ventures, including Groupon, Echo Global Logistics, Uptake, Drivin, Chicago Ideas Week, and Mediaocean. He is also a Managing Partner at Lightbank, a Chicago-based venture capital firm focused on investing in technology companies with breakthrough innovations, and serves as a member of the University of Michigan’s Zell-Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies and the Hillel Foundation at the University of Michigan.

To guide consumer healthcare decisions, Zest Health has launched a mobile application called Smart Concierge, available on both iOS and Android platforms. The app helps users understand their health insurance plans and coverage options, while providing round-the-clock access to registered nurses and benefits specialists for patient consultations. This support enables users to weigh multiple factors, including cost and quality of care, ultimately helping them make cost-effective healthcare decisions.

Smart Concierge APP

The Smart Concierge serves three primary functions:

1. Delivering a superior healthcare experience while saving users money: 24/7 telemedicine support from registered nurses, real-time tracking of all members’ deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses, online appointment scheduling, transparent pricing, and benefits specialists to assist with reimbursement and settlement;

2. Acting as an intermediary agent, striving to provide differentiated value to customers;

3. Redefining Healthcare and Benefits Management: Enable intuitive, on-demand access to benefits information, affiliated healthcare providers, and reimbursement details.

On the Zest Health Smart Concierge app interface, users can resolve their queries by clicking to contact nurses, physicians, diabetes educators, seek second opinions, reach out to consumer advocacy organizations, or request assistance from staff. Alternatively, they can quickly obtain answers by directly clicking the “Medical Care” and “Benefits” buttons.

Prior to scheduling an appointment, users can check the estimated costs of medical visits on the app, allowing them to prepare financially. The most appealing feature of the Smart Concierge APP is its ability to help users gain a clearer and more comprehensive understanding of their health plans, including treatment regimens, total medical expenses, reimbursable amounts, and out-of-pocket costs, while also tracking their medical expenditures in real time.

By 2015, the app platform established by Zest Health had already amassed over 50,000 users. Currently, Smart Concierge is available not only to patients but also to corporate employers, health systems, and health plans. Notable users include Presence Health in Chicago and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island.

Zest Health’s app integrates existing resources, information, and data sources to create a flexible interactive platform. Furthermore, its digital and mobile solutions are more streamlined, delivering genuine value in healthcare. Notably, due to the high service sensitivity of every employee, the company strives to help patients avoid unnecessary medical expenses. Consequently, Zest Health has enhanced employee engagement and satisfaction while providing high-quality services to patients, thereby alleviating pressure on its own human resources team.

According to overseas media, Zest Health’s total funding has now exceeded $9 million.

In August 2015, Zest Health announced the completion of a $6 million Series A financing round. The investors included 7wire Ventures, Lightbank, Zaffre Investments, Martin Ventures, Dallas Venture Partners, and LSAN/Azimuth Ventures, a group of active investors in the healthcare and consumer technology sectors. The funds raised in this Series A round will be used to expand its team, accelerate product development, and increase market share.

Back in March 2013, at the inception of Zest Health, the company secured seed funding from 7wire Ventures and Lightbank, although the amount was not disclosed.

The Zest Health project was incubated by the investment firm 7wire Ventures. 7wire Ventures has also invested in the game development company Ayogo, the Israeli medication adherence company MediSafe, and the diabetes management companies Livongo and WiserTogether.

Discussing Zest Health’s initial success, President Ellis attributed part of their achievement to the company’s mental flexibility. When a company focuses solely on excelling at one thing, it may fail to apply a holistic mindset to extend its products or services across the entire industry, thereby limiting its growth. In contrast, companies with a long-term vision acquire startups or their innovations to achieve interoperability among internally developed technologies and solutions, integrating them into a more robust entity. According to Zest Health, the company plans to continue raising funds to develop new features and expand its team.

HealthiestYou's Funding Status

Zest Health’s primary competitor is HealthiestYou, a leader in the digital health patient engagement industry headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Ranked 846th on the 2015 Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies, HealthiestYou provides accessible and affordable primary care services, transcending the boundaries of traditional insurance plans to save patients time and money while alleviating their psychological burden.