Health technology company Color announced earlier this week the closing a $167 million Series D financing round. The company said it will use the new funds to expand its work building public health technology and infrastructure for governments, employers, and other institutions that serve large populations—services aimed at addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also added members to its management team to help with this initiative.
Since its founding Color has now raised $278 million. The round was led by General Catalyst and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., with participation from Viking Global Investors and others.
The company has current partnerships with both public and private institutions including the City of San Francisco, the NIH, and the state of California, among others, to help provide healthcare services to workers at home or at work. To date, Color has partnered with more than 100 employers and universities to provide testing services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are building the rails for a national technology-based public health infrastructure,” said Color CEO Othman Laraki, in a press release. “The inability to deliver basic healthcare services during the biggest health crisis of our lifetime is a direct consequence of the lack of a public health delivery model. Public health does not only mean a government-funded model. A modern public health infrastructure should enable all of the stakeholders in the health of large populations – including governments, employers, and schools – to support the essential health needs of the people they serve. By investing in the technology that ensures easy and affordable access to healthcare, we’re creating the infrastructure that will serve us for decades to come.”
Color’s partnership with the City of San Francisco has helped the city maintain one of the nation’s highest per-capita COVID-19 testing rates. Now, the company wants to aid in national testing programs, as well as logistical support systems for the delivery of vaccines to institutions across the country.
“The opportunity to design the future of public health through technology cannot be overstated,” said Hemant Taneja, managing director at General Catalyst. “Color understands that often, challenges in healthcare aren’t scientific or medical in nature, but rather due to access barriers. The hyper-scaling of access is perhaps the most impactful function of digital technology—and the fact that Color approaches healthcare from this vantage point makes it among the most important companies in the industry.”
Color also announced additions to the leadership team to help scale operations. Claire Vo joins the company as chief product officer, Emily Reuter as vice president of Strategy & Operations, and Ashley Chandler as vice president of Marketing.
“This is an important moment for Color,” said Chief Commercial Officer Caroline Savello. “The public health crisis in 2020 underscored the urgent need to make healthcare services convenient and cost-effective for every community. Color is building the technology framework that enables millions of people to access these essential services outside of the traditional health systems.”
