A new stealthy Seattle healthcare startup led by veterans of companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Starbucks just raised $11 million to build technology that will “dramatically” lower the cost of primary care.
Led by CEO Robbie Cape, former founder of Cozi and a 12-year Microsoft veteran, 98point6 raised the investment as part of a larger $15 million round, which will ultimately bring total funding to $18 million for the year-old company.
Cape, who sold family scheduling app Cozi to Time Inc. in 2014, told GeekWire that 98point6 is developing a service which utilizes leading-edge data science technologies to reduce primary care costs.
Cape said the service will ultimately be made available to consumers. He wouldn’t reveal much more about the platform, but the 20-person company is currently hiring in-house physicians to “deliver direct patient care through technology.”
“We are very, very motivated to change people’s lives by having a positive impact on the world,” Cape said. “We are very focused on that.”
The executive team at 98point6 is impressive. Damon Lanphear, CTO, was previously vice president of engineering at fellow Seattle startup Usermind, and worked at Amazon and LiveMocha prior to that. Chief Product Officer Larry Engel spent 20 years at Microsoft before joining Cozi with Cape as its CPO. Others include former Starbucks and Seattle Children’s Hospital HR executive Steven Hurwitz; former Microsoft and Amazon manager (and Cozi VP of Marketing) Samantha Bergin; former Likewise and VoloMetrix CFO Laurie Cansler; and former Seattle Children’s Hospital regulatory analyst Tori Lallemont.
Cape said he is “incredibly excited” about the team and called the culture “something super, super special.”
“Exceptional people like to work with other exceptional people,” he added.
The company, which is hiring an additional 10 employees, also has a 16-person medical advisory board made up of leading innovators in the healthcare field.
Cape noted that he has other co-founders, but they are “very private people who have decided to take low profile at this time.”
98point6 is not revealing its investors, but Cape said that they are a group of “incredibly successful and nationally-recognized businessmen and women.”
“They are clearly very passionate and committed to dramatically lowering the cost of primary care,” he said, adding that the investors are “deeply engaged with the business.”
When asked about potential competition for 98point6, Cape said there is room for many winners at the intersection of technology and healthcare.
“We absolutely believe that the market is so interesting, dynamic, and large that there is an opportunity for all of these companies to be successful,” he said. “There is that much work to do.”
