Outcome Health, a Chicago-based company that provides ad-supported patient information content via touchscreens in doctor's offices and waiting rooms, is closing in on $500 million in new funding at a $5 billion pre-money valuation. Backers include Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, CapitalG, Leerink Transformation Partners, Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Balyasny Asset Management. The company previously was known as ContextMedia, before purchasing rival AccentHealth last year in a leveraged transaction.
Caveat: A source says deal is structured much like Uber's old transaction with Goldman Sachs, whereby the investors receive an guaranteed return at IPO, which rises annually. As such, this announced valuation is more complicated than most, and not quite apples to other tech apples.
Why it' matters: For Chicago, this is now the city's most highly-valued tech startup since Groupon's halcyon days. For medical practices, it's an ad-supported way to save costs on patient distraction during lengthy waits or outpatient procedures like chemotherapy or dialysis (plus showing 3D models in exam rooms). For pharma, it's a new frontier in the dodgy practice of in-office promotion.
Bottom line: "For drug companies, the value proposition is obvious: reach patients when they are thinking about their health, in the doctor's waiting room or in the exam room itself. Outcome Health claims it has tablets or wall-mounted screens in 40,000 or so doctor's offices, which it says accounts for 20% of U.S. doctor's offices." ― Alex Konrad & Matthew Herper, Forbes