Minneapolis-based Nice Healthcare raises $30M to expand in-home care

Nice Healthcare, the Minneapolis-based clinic that delivers care both virtually and within patients' homes, raised $30 million in a Series A round of funding to fuel its expansion into the eastern region of the U.S.

The company's capital raise, announced Thursday, was led by Brazilian venture capital firm DNA Capital and included an investment from Minneapolis investment fund Brown Venture Group, which invests in startups led by Black, Latino and Indigenous entrepreneurs.

Nice Healthcare is active in more than 12 states, including Wisconsin, Colorado and Nebraska. Since starting in 2017, the clinic led by nurse practitioners has raised $42 million in venture capital from investors.

In addition to expanding into new markets, the money will be used to grow geographically within in the states Nice Healthcare is currently operating, co-founder and CEO Thompson Aderinkomi said. The funds will also go toward hiring more workers, he said.

The company operates remotely, but most of the company's staff is located in Minnesota. Virtual care is delivered through the company's own smartphone app.

Nice Healthcare is a reboot of the former RetraceHealth business Aderinkomi co-founded in 2012. That business also attracted millions of dollars of venture capital, but new investors voted to remove Aderinkomi from the company.

Aderinkomi and two colleagues from RetraceHealth — Genevieve Swenson and Allison Santos — relaunched the business model in 2017 with Nice Healthcare. Almost all of the former company's customers joined Nice Healthcare, Aderinkomi said.

In 2018, the founders raised about $1 million from investors, and another $5 million in 2019. Prior to the recent Series A, they raised an additional $6 million.

"Brown Venture Group is beyond excited to invest in Thompson and the standout team at Nice Healthcare," said Chris Brooks, co-founder and managing partner at the investment fund. "Their story is one of grit, heart, innovation and sound business discipline. They are a perfect fit in our investment portfolio."

Though he did not disclose revenue, Aderinkomi said it has grown 300% since 2020. During the pandemic, the company continued doing home visits and was already equipped to perform virtual visits, an advantage over some other health care companies that had more work to do to adjust to virtual or home-based care during COVID-19 shutdowns.

"The pandemic highlighted the value of Nice Healthcare to those who were skeptical in the past," he said.

Nice Healthcare's primary users are small and medium-size businesses in less populated areas with between five and 2,000 employees, Aderinkomi said. More than 400 businesses use the company's services for their employees' health care benefits.

As some employers pledge to keep hybrid or full work-from-home systems in place, it presents an opportunity for Nice Healthcare, Aderinkomi said.

"People will be able to work from anywhere, so they're going to need access to care that can go wherever they go," he said. "And that's where Nice Health is. Nice Healthcare doesn't have buildings and walls. Our care can go where the patients go. "

Nice Healthcare is approaching 200 employees, most of whom are clinicians, and will most likely double in the next few years, Aderinkomi said. Those clinicians draw blood, write prescriptions and perform X-rays in patients' homes.