Virtual care provider Wheel announced this week that it raised $150 million in its latest round of funding, co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Tiger Global. New investors Coatue and Salesforce Ventures also participated in the Series C round, as did existing investors CRV, Tusk Venture Partners and Silverton Partners.

The new infusion brings Wheel’s total funding to $216 million, which includes $50 million it raised in May, according to the Austin, Texas-based digital health company. Wheel plans to use the money to help more companies offer patients virtual-first care, which they can access from anywhere, at any time.

Wheel CEO and co-founder Michelle Davey said “telehealth 101” brought more care online but that companies were still struggling to meet their patients’ care needs. “The idea behind virtual-first care is to have patients start their care journey with a digital interaction,” she said in a email provided by a representative. “By leaning on technology, healthcare organizations can more easily triage the patient’s care need and determine the best care setting.” 

So if a person has a rash, for example, a telehealth visit may be appropriate, but if they have an injury that requires the attention of an orthopedic surgeon, then a face-to-face visit makes more sense.

“And just as importantly, a virtual-first care approach helps match patients to the best clinician for their care need — whether it’s an RN, primary care physician or specialist,” Davey said. “Virtual-first care is a more efficient way to approach care delivery while simultaneously upholding quality of care.”

Wheel provides its virtual care platform and nationwide clinician network to customers including other digital health startups, brick and mortar clinics, retailers and pharmacies as an alternative to the considerable time and money organizations might otherwise invest in creating their own virtual care service. And it works with companies behind the scenes. The white-label platform won’t name clients or put its brand on services, so the organizations are free to offer those services to patients under their own brand. 

“In just a few years, Wheel has proven they are the leader and trusted partner to build in virtual care,”  Lightspeed partner Dr. Ling Wong said in a news release announcing the latest funding round. “I’m personally passionate about their noble goals to make virtual-first care more accessible, affordable and equitable at scale.”

Many companies now offer same-day virtual medical appointments and 24/7 telemedicine services. Players ranging from Teladoc to Sesame Care continually expand offerings to address more of their patients’ needs virtually. While many of them work with health systems helping them establish their virtual care services, Wheel, which launched in 2018, aims to help a broader suite of customers build a virtual care service.

A number of factors make virtual-first care a priority right now, including the pandemic, but there are other overarching reasons for why virtual care has become a necessity.

“The shrinking pool of clinicians – many of whom are burned out or even leaving their profession – won’t be able to scale with the growing demand for patient care,” she said. “Virtual-first care models allow clinicians to be more efficient with their time by leaning on technology to easily triage patients and their care needs.”

The new round of funding will be invested in that platform and used to broaden Wheel’s white-labeled diagnostic services, so customers like labs and diagnostics companies are able to provide direct-to-consumer lab testing and follow-up care. The company is also using the money to grow its clinician network and expand its workforce across all departments. Wheel currently has 150 employees, and Davey said it’s planning to more than double in size by the end of the year.

“In partnership with our clients, we delivered care to 1.3 million patients across the country. With this funding, we’re expecting to triple the amount of patients we reach by the end of the year,” Davey said.

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