Color announces $167 million in Series D financing to help build public health infrastructure across the U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Color, a health technology company committed to advancing public health, today announced a $167 million Series D financing round. This brings Color to $278 million in total financing, with a valuation of $1.5 billion. Color will use the funding to expand its work building public health technology and infrastructure for governments, employers, and other institutions that serve large populations. 

The round was led by General Catalyst and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., with participation from Viking Global Investors and others.

“We are building the rails for a national technology-based public health infrastructure,” said Color CEO Othman Laraki. “The inability to deliver basic healthcare services during the biggest health crisis of our lifetime is a direct consequence of the lack of a public health delivery model.  Public health does not only mean a government-funded model. A modern public health infrastructure should enable all of the stakeholders in the health of large populations – including governments, employers, and schools – to support the essential health needs of the people they serve. By investing in the technology that ensures easy and affordable access to healthcare, we’re creating the infrastructure that will serve us for decades to come.”

Through partnerships with public and private institutions such as the City of San Francisco, the Teamsters Union, the National Institutes of Health, Salesforce, the State of California, and United Airlines, Color’s infrastructure and software make it possible for large populations to receive essential healthcare services directly where they live or work. These include testing and telehealth services for preventive health and infectious disease management. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Color has partnered with more than 100 major employers and universities to provide critical testing programs. Color’s software is powering the State of California’s efforts with PerkinElmer to process up to 150,000 COVID-19 tests daily. Color’s partnership with the City of San Francisco has helped the city maintain one of the nation’s highest per-capita COVID-19 testing rates.

In addition to national COVID-19 testing programs and preventive healthcare services like genetic testing and counseling, Color is rolling out vaccine delivery systems to state and local governments, employers, and higher education institutions. 

“The opportunity to design the future of public health through technology cannot be overstated,” said Hemant Taneja, Managing Director at General Catalyst. “Color understands that often, challenges in healthcare aren’t scientific or medical in nature, but rather due to access barriers. The hyper-scaling of access is perhaps the most impactful function of digital technology – and the fact that Color approaches healthcare from this vantage point makes it among the most important companies in the industry.” 

With this financing, Color is announcing key additions to the leadership team to scale company operations, including Claire Vo as Chief Product Officer, Emily Reuter as Vice President of Strategy & Operations, and Ashley Chandler as Vice President of Marketing. Vo was previously the Chief Product Officer at Optimizely, where she restructured the company’s products to serve Fortune 500 enterprises. Reuter comes from Uber, where she was head of investor relations and drove the company’s IPO process, M&A initiatives, and operations. Chandler joins Color from Stripe, where she built and led several of the company’s marketing functions through a period of rapid growth.

“This is an important moment for Color,” said Chief Commercial Officer Caroline Savello. “We already have incredible reach and impact, serving millions across the country this past year alone. The public health crisis in 2020 underscored the urgent need to make healthcare services convenient and cost-effective for every community. Color is building the technology framework that enables millions of people to access these essential services outside of the traditional health systems.”

About Color
Color is a leader in distributed healthcare and clinical testing. Color makes population-scale healthcare programs accessible, convenient, and cost-effective for everyone. Color works with health systems, employers, and national health initiatives around the world, including the million-person All of Us Research Program by the National Institutes of Health. For more information about Color and its response to COVID-19, visit www.color.com.

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SOURCE Color