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Mobile veterinary company TheVets hired Raymond James to raise growth funding, sources tell Aaron.

Why it matters: Tech-enabled and convenience-focused veterinary companies are seeing increased investor interest as pet owners seek more efficient care.

The latest: The New York City-based mobile veterinary services provider is reaching out to growth investors, likely for a minority stake in the business, per sources.

Generating revenue in excess of $10 million, TheVets is not yet EBITDA-positive, sources say.

How it works: The company provides home veterinary visits.

Services include sick visits, microchipping, dermatology, wellness exams, home lab tests, litter exams, vaccinations, ultrasounds and nutrition advice.

TheVets also sells $99 per pet monthly wellness memberships for cats and dogs.

State of play: Like human care, pet care is moving away from the four walls of the hospital. Mobile veterinary care businesses comparable to TheVets include:

Boston-based BetterVet raised a $40 million Series A in 2022 at a pre-money valuation of $63 million, per PitchBook.

Houston-based Rollin' Vets raised $5 million in 2021 at a pre-money valuation of $10 million, per PitchBook.

Davidson, North Carolina-based Moves Vets raised $690,000 from angel investors in 2022, per PitchBook.

Veterinary assets with a de-novo growth strategy have also become increasingly compelling to private equity backers and other investors.

Small Door Vet hired Lincoln International last year to explore strategic options and held initial meetings with investors, though a deal has not yet materialized.

Bond Vet secured $50 million from existing investors Warburg Pincus and Talisman Capital Partners last October.

Modern Animal raised roughly $75 million in 2021 by way of a $35.5 million Series A and a $40 million Series B.

Whistler Capital Partners invested an undisclosed amount in Heart and Paw in January.

TheVets and Raymond James did not respond to Axios' request for comment.

1 big thing: TheVets taps Raymond James to raise funds

an illustration of a paw print shaped air freshener hanging from a car rear view mirror

Telenutrition startup Nourish raised a $35 million Series A led by Index Ventures, CEO Aidan Dewar tells Erin exclusively.

Why it's the BFD: "The U.S. health care crisis is in many ways a chronic condition crisis — and when you dig even deeper, you realize the chronic condition crisis is a nutrition crisis," says Dewar.

How it works: New York City-based Nourish is designed to assist dietitians, users and insurers.

The company virtually links people with a wide range of chronic health issues to registered dietitians covered by insurance.

Those dietitians get help with insurance verification and other administrative work to help them focus on patients.

Nourish is in network with insurers including Aetna, Cigna, United, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Medicare. Dewar says 94% of patients pay nothing out of pocket for its services.

Users meet with dietitians over video chat, receive a care plan, log meals, message with the dietitian and receive educational content.

The big picture: Food-as-medicine is being embraced as a new appetizer on the menu of holistic care, with companies including Andreessen Horowitz-backed Season Health and corporate food health benefits provider Bitewell drawing recent deals.

What they're saying: "The core of the experience is that telehealth video chat and the tools are more for interaction between sessions," Dewar says.

Flashback: Dewar and cofounder Sam Perkins got interested in food-as-medicine after struggling with their own health issues — Dewar with chronic migraines and Perkins with a GI condition.

Both separately tried addressing their concerns with primary and specialty care, but didn't resolve them until they each worked with dietitians.

They regrouped with third cofounder and longtime friend and coworker Stephanie Liu and started Nourish.

Reality check: The company hasn't yet published any research on its outcomes but has invested in a clinical quality team with aims to do so, per Dewar.

Nourish's providers currently track a range of outcomes depending on a user's conditions.

For gut health, for example, the company tracks the symptom and severity of eight symptoms; for diabetes, it tracks data on blood sugar levels and time in range.

Zoom in: Maverick Ventures and TCV joined the round, alongside existing investors Y Combinator, Thrive Capital and BoxGroup.

Individual backers including professional soccer player Alex Morgan and founders from Oscar, Olipop and NotionFunds also joined, bringing total fundraising to $44 million since Nourish's founding in 2020, per Dewar.

What's next: "Our goal would be to make this the last capital we ever need to raise," Dewar tells Axios. "If a future round happens, it'll be opportunistic rather than to extend our runway."

Funds will support additional features including AI-powered personalized meal planning and recipe creation, and tools for streamlining administrative workflows for dietitians.

State of play: Other food-as-medicine companies to draw the attention of venture capitalists.

Maternal health-focused Chiyo this week closed a $3 million seed.

Food-as-medicine startup Season Health last fall signed a deal to acquire the clinical assets of dietitian network Wellory.

Bitewell, a startup billing itself as a food-as-medicine marketplace for employers, last summer closed a $4 million seed.

2. The BFD: Nourish nets $35M for nutrition support

Illustration of a red cross made of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seafood.

Want more health tech deals? Check out the Axios Pro Deals Tracker.

• Transcarent, an SF-based care navigation company, is raising an unlabeled $125m led by General Catalyst at a $2.1b valuation, per Insider. axios.link/3IWbbG2 

• InStride Health, a Boston-based outpatient provider of pediatric treatments for anxiety and OCD, raised a $30m Series B led by General Catalyst and joined by insiders .406 Ventures, Valtruis, Mass General Brigham Ventures and Hopelab Foundation. instride.health

• Tonic App, a Portuguese data aggregation platform for physicians, raised a €10.85m Series A co-led by BlueCrow Capital and Iberis Capital. axios.link/4asTw4d

• Century Health, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based provider of patient data to drug developers, raised an unlabeled $2m led by 2048 Ventures. axios.link/3Tzctf0

• Habitat Health, a new Oakland, Calif.-based home health company, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Kaiser Permanente and Town Hall Ventures. habitathealth.com

• Blackstone is investing up to $750m to help fund biotech Moderna's (NASDAQ: MRNA) flu program. modernatx.com

• Veeda Clinical Research, an Indian firm whose backers include Acorn Asset Management and Sabre Partners, acquired Heads, a European CRO. axios.link/3PDOdqI

• Trinity Hunt Partners-backed Supreme Group, a West Chester, Penn.-based commercialization company, acquired Health+Commerce, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based medtech marketing and public relations agency. supremegroup.io  

• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is in talks to acquire Shockwave Medical, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based cardiac medical device maker with a roughly $11b market cap, per the WSJ. axios.link/3TVWPfa

• OmnigenicsAI and MultiplAI Health, both preventive health companies, agreed to merge and go public at an implied $340m enterprise value via APx Acquisition Corp. I (Nasdaq: APXI). axios.link/3TS5AXr

3. Deals o' the day

• Antonio Martino, former CFO at Silvergate Capital Corporation, joined PayZen as CFO. axios.link/3xeHygw

• Patrick Pena, former senior engineering manager at Quartet Health, joined Livara as CTO. livarahealth.com

• Lou Shapiro, senior adviser at General Atlantic, joined Redesign Health as venture chair. axios.link/4aa2Wlo

• Vinod Thourani, chair of the Piedmont Heart Institute, and Nicholas Amoroso, director at the Medical University of South Carolina, joined Egnite's medical advisory board. axios.link/49hmlQa

4. It's Personnel

💊 Supreme Court hears Texas abortion pill case — Axios

💉 Zepbound patients in panic as pharmacies can't get enough — Bloomberg

🚑 More states are adding protections against big ambulance bills — Axios

5. Your daily dose

Illustration of a weekly pill dispenser box with a newspaper called "daily dose" in each compartment.

🏥 Situational awareness: UnitedHealth's Optum is buying the national physician network of troubled Massachusetts hospital operator Steward Health Care.

👙 Erin is missing the warm weather and chill vibes of Palm Springs, reflecting on several hours spent lounging at a backyard Airbnb pool.

😎 Thanks for reading, and extra thanks to newsletter editor Claire Rychlewski and copy editor Egan Millard. Please ask your colleagues, friends and family to sign up.

March 27, 2024

1 big thing: TheVets taps Raymond James to raise funds