Incredible Health passes unicorn valuation as it bags $80M Series B

Incredible Health, a US-based job-matching platform which made nurses its first focus, has closed an $80 million Series B funding round and announced hitting a $1.65BN unicorn valuation, billing itself as the highest valued “tech-enabled” career marketplace in the healthcare sector — a couple of (pandemic-struck) years after closing a $15M Series A.

The latest raise is led by Base10 Partners, with existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Obvious Ventures also returning to back the startup. Other investors in the Series B include Incredible Health customer, Kaiser Permanente; plus a roster of angels and funds including Workday CEO Chano Fernando; NBA Champion Andre Iguodala; Rethink Impact; Stardust Equity; and the D’Amelio family, including TikTok personalities Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, who joined the round via their 444 Capital Fund.

Incredible Health said the new funding will go on supporting initiatives to help health systems and their employees manage surging patient care demand — including through optimizing hiring workflow with the use of machine learning technology (which it says will include “screening and matching”) to increase process automation and personalization for both healthcare workers and employers; career support for nurses and healthcare workers, including around skills growth, education, mobility and relocation; and new features for its community hub for nurses, such as personalized advice and content ranking. 

The startup is shooting to expand and scale its platform to 90% of the U.S. nurse workforce, and also eyeing moving into catering to healthcare worker roles beyond nursing that have critical shortages. (For nurses, it says the critical shortage means the US is on track to be 1 million nurses short by the end of 2023.)

“Nurses are the backbone of the US healthcare system, and they deserve the well-staffed teams and tools to not only succeed but also feel fulfilled in their careers,” said Iman Abuzeid M.D., CEO and co-founder, in a statement. “Our model has met the moment and changed the paradigm for both nurses and healthcare providers in the most challenging time in U.S. healthcare. We’re excited to accelerate our growth to affect even more change.”

Incredible Health is dubbing 2021 a “milestone” year in performance, with the startup clocking up a more than 500% increase in revenue. It also says more than 10,000 nurses join its marketplace every week, and claims it’s been able to reduce the average time to hire to 14 days from the industry standard of 82 days. On the employer side, it says ot has signed up more than 60% of the “top-ranked” hospitals in the US — with around 600 hospitals using its platform for permanent staffing.

Commenting on its Series B in a statement, Jamison Hill, partner at Base10 Partners, added: “Incredible Health is an exciting addition to the Advancement Initiative portfolio. The company’s mission and support for nurses closely align with our values but what truly makes Incredible Health special is how the company has transformed the way health systems recruit talent and nurses find work. The company is solving an urgent need in healthcare and we’re excited to be a part of its next stage of growth.”

For more on Incredible Health’s growth spurt, check out our recent Found podcast interview with Abuzeid: