These Startup Founders Raised Millions to Innovate Women’s Healthcare

Carolyn Witte knows how difficult it is to be a woman navigating the United States’ broken healthcare system. In fact, it took her three long years of seeing various doctors to finally get diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

That experience motivated her to find a way to help other women like her to have a better experience with going to doctors for their health concerns.

Thus, Tia was born.

WebMD for Women’s Health

Unleashed/Medium | The duo quit their jobs to focus better on their startup

Together with her college best friend, Felicity Yost, Witte went on to create an app that’s focused on helping women answer health-related questions. She described the app as something like a ‘personalized WebMD’ but for women’s health.

Through Tia, users can type in their concerns or queries and get a response from actual health professionals. Witte’s past experience working for Google and Yost’s background in technology helped make the app possible.

After implementing word-of-mouth and Instagram-focused marketing strategies, Tia started receiving around 3,000 questions each day, months after launching. Witte and Yost also got the help of a team of healthcare professionals to respond.

From App to Clinic

Rockwell Group | A look inside Tia’s first physical clinic in New York City

As traffic picked up, the two founders realized that they wanted Tia to be more than just something that answers women’s questions. This was when they thought of opening an actual clinic where users can meet face-to-face with doctors regarding their concerns.

Witte and Yost launched the first Tia clinic in 2019. The team of professionals that ran it consisted of 15 physicians, registered nurses, therapists, and other healthcare specialists.

To fund the expansion that Tia is going through and to keep their services within reach of women everywhere, Witte and Yost have raised millions from investors. In May 2020, they announced that they’d secured $24.275 million.

This brings their total funds raised to over $132 million since its inception.

Raising Funds for Expansion

wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock | Tia is expanding its services to cover all aspects of women’s health

Even more impressive is that the duo managed to raise that amount within just three years. Thus, Tia managed to remain a no-cost service to its tens of thousands of users.

Those who want to take advantage of the app’s virtual healthcare services pay a $15 per month membership fee. This totals just $150 a year, which is still an affordable amount.

In 2020, Witte and Yost were busy finding ways to keep Tia’s services accessible to women even during the pandemic, and geared toward opening more physical clinics across the country.

Tia has an all-female board of directors with clinics in various cities. The dream is to continually grow this brand.