Hormonal imbalances are the leading cause of infertility for women. With proper diagnosis and ongoing care, many of the causes of the imbalances are correctable with a change in medication, diet, or by managing stress. However, accessing reliable care across the vast spectrum of the seemingly unnavigable healthcare system has traditionally been a challenge despite 1 out of 3 women having a chronic hormonal condition. Allara is a virtual care platform that focuses on providing care to the millions of women of reproductive age who are dealing with these chronic conditions in a seamless and accessible manner. The platform takes a holistic approach to managing treatment and diagnosis by connecting women with expert medical practitioners and registered dieticians while also providing ongoing medical, lifestyle, and emotional support, developed specifically designed to improve outcomes and individual goals. Allara has focused on making its service as accessible as possible to serve as many women as possible with memberships starting at $99/mo for patients paying out of pocket. For those who are insured, there are two options – $20/mo or $180/year plus copays. The company already works with major insurers in eight states and plans to expand coverage for the entire country in 2024.
AlleyWatch caught up with Allara CEO and Founder Rachel Blank to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $12.5M, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
We just closed a $10M Series A round led by GV (Google Ventures), with participation from Great Oaks Venture Capital, Humbition, Vanterra, Black Angels Group, Gaingels, and individual investors, including Tom Lee (One Medical) and Maggie Sellers. GV General Partner Frédérique Dame has also joined our Board of Directors.
Tell us about the product or service that Allara offers.
Allara is a first-of-its-kind virtual care platform bridging the care divide for the millions of women of reproductive age dealing with chronic hormonal conditions. Our virtual, multidisciplinary care approach combines lifestyle, nutrition, exercise, and medical expertise to individualize patient plans across hormonal, metabolic, and gynecological conditions.
What inspired the start of Allara?
The idea for Allara came to me as a result of my personal health journey to ultimately receive my PCOS diagnosis. In my early 20’s I experienced a host of unexplained health issues, and I struggled to identify a cause. After bouncing around from doctor to doctor in search of answers and consistent care, I began to conduct independent research and to patch together a network of care providers on my own. The more research I conducted, the more I realized that I was one of millions of women struggling with complex, chronic issues and seeking care. To address this gap in the market and provide much-needed support, I founded Allara.
How is Allara different?
Allara is the only patient-focused platform that combines the expertise of OB-GYNs with Registered Dietitians to treat the whole body care needs of women with complex chronic conditions like PCOS and endometriosis. While there are other companies providing accessible, virtual healthcare for women, Allara is the first company offering personalized care for the chronic, complex conditions affecting more than 1 in three women.
What market does Allara target and how big is it?
Women of reproductive age (18 – 44) represent 56 million people in the U.S. population, and more than 1 in 3 women live with a chronic condition such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or endometriosis. Despite the widespread nature, women report years of suffering and go as many as 10 years undiagnosed.
These conditions often cause complications such as infertility, high-risk pregnancies, obesity, and diabetes, and delayed diagnoses and treatments cost the health system billions annually. Allara is designed to help bridge the care gap experienced by these women and to provide compassionate, expert-backed care.
What’s your business model?
Allara’s comprehensive care services are offered to our community through a convenient monthly membership. This includes ongoing medical and nutrition services, quarterly check-ins with OB-GYNs and RDs, and on-demand access to resources and the broader Allara community. Memberships are available beginning at $99/month for patients paying out of pocket, and for those who have insurance, we offer a rate of $20 monthly or $180 for the year, along with copays. We are currently in-network with all major insurers across eight states and will expand nationwide by 2024.
How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
From our earliest days as a startup, we have always been focused on growing quickly and cash efficiently. The cost of patient acquisition in digital healthcare can be significant, and I’ve seen businesses spend as much as $1,000 to attract new users. But because our patients are so underserved, we have been able to build incredibly strong organic communities that allow us to acquire new patients at a fraction of traditional costs.
Our success has been in finding a product that did not exist in the market. Women wanted and needed the services offered by Allara, and we have been able to keep our costs low and to be well-suited for an economic slowdown through speaking to our potential customers and aligning our products with their unmet needs.
What was the funding process like?
Raising funding is never an easy process, and this round was directly impacted by the current macroeconomic climate. To generate the capital we needed to scale the business, I relied on the network I’d built over the last five years spent working in digital health. GV and General Partner Frédérique Dame are champions of women’s health and have a history of investing in the space. We were in touch for more than a year as I pursued this raise, and in that time we fostered a close relationship where she offered me guidance and support in this process. When we eventually closed the raise, GV signed on as our lead investor, and Frederique joined our Board of Directors.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
There is a persistent misconception that PCOS, endometriosis, and other complex, chronic hormonal conditions are niche. In fact, millions of women are living with these diagnoses, and as a PCOS patient, I am one of them. While I heard this more frequently when raising for my seed round, the idea still persists. To combat this misconception, we emphasized the tremendous growth that Allara has achieved in the last two years, largely due to patient market fit, and the absence of a service like this in the market. And the more that I spoke to investors, the more I would hear that they had a friend or family member who was experiencing fertility issues, PCOS, or hormonal conditions. Through this shared experience, it helped to make the case that this was not niche, but widespread and touching so many different peoples’ lives.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
We very purposefully built Allara as a direct-to-consumer service to engage with women in need of this platform. Traditionally, these conditions are not well understood by employers, insurers, and traditional big healthcare companies. Through these direct connections, we built a massive, engaged community with phenomenal patient retention. Patients who used Allara loved it, and they kept coming back. We have over 100,000 followers across our social media channels, and serve an online community that is looking for expert advice on the conditions which they experience and for camaraderie. We achieved 5x patient growth over the past year, and coming into these meetings with such significant, verifiable data helped us to achieve a successful fundraise.
We very purposefully built Allara as a direct-to-consumer service to engage with women in need of this platform. Traditionally, these conditions are not well understood by employers, insurers, and traditional big healthcare companies. Through these direct connections, we built a massive, engaged community with phenomenal patient retention. Patients who used Allara loved it, and they kept coming back. We have over 100,000 followers across our social media channels, and serve an online community that is looking for expert advice on the conditions which they experience and for camaraderie. We achieved 5x patient growth over the past year, and coming into these meetings with such significant, verifiable data helped us to achieve a successful fundraise.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
In the next six months, Allara will leverage this new capital to expand our care network and reach even more women in need. We are pursuing nationwide availability in 2024, and will also work to extend our insurance coverage, launch partnerships with leading health systems, and conduct much-needed clinical research.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Consistently speak with your customers and potential customers and make sure your product and marketing are aligning with their needs. It can be tempting to spend money launching new products that you think the market will want, but there are many low-cost ways to test these hypotheses before you spend money on them. I believe a significant part of Allara’s success and ability to be cash efficient, is our constant communication with patients.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
In the near term, we plan to continue iterating on our platform and resources to continue providing vital care and resources to our dedicated and engaged community.
What’s your favorite fall destination in and around the city?
I am training for the NYC marathon so I have been spending a lot of time recently running along the West Side Highway and in Central Park.
