June 22, 2023 (Chicago) – First Stop Health ("FSH"), a direct, virtual healthcare provider, announced today a strategic investment made by Sverica Capital Management LP ("Sverica").
Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Sverica is a leading growth-oriented private equity investment firm with deep healthcare expertise. Now on its sixth fund, Sverica is poised to help FSH further establish itself as the premier employer virtual healthcare provider. For the last 20+ years, Sverica has been collaborating with management teams to help them scale their businesses with a focus on ambitious strategy, developing talent, and building world-class infrastructure and processes.
"We are thrilled to work with Sverica, who embraces our commitment to our patients and understands how to leverage our strengths to accelerate our growth and maximize our impact. The work of bringing care that people love® to reality is ambitious and energizing," says Teira Gunlock, CEO of First Stop Health. Gunlock will continue to lead the company while Gregg Osenkowski, Partner at Sverica, and Doug Patrican, Vice President at Sverica, will join the FSH Board of Directors.
"We are excited to partner with the First Stop Health team and to advance their mission to provide employers and employees with the highest-quality virtual health services," said Osenkowski. Patrican added, "First Stop Health's focus on delivering exceptional patient care permeates the entire organization and we look forward to supporting the FSH team as they continue to execute on their vision and growth plans."
FSH was co-founded by Patrick Spain and Dr. Mark Friedman. "'Mark and I founded FSH to help fix a reimbursement-based healthcare system that was not working for patients or the employers who pay the bills for a system bloated with 'paperwork' — we believe that we have made headway in achieving this goal," said Spain. Dr. Friedman added, "First Stop Health is working to address many of the problems with healthcare today. We are proud to be part of the solution."
Ernst & Young Capital Advisors, LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor to First Stop Health on the transaction.
About Sverica Capital Management
Sverica Capital Management is a leading growth-oriented private equity firm that has raised $2 billion across six funds. The firm acquires, invests in and actively builds companies that are, or could become, leaders in their industries. Since inception, Sverica has followed a "business builder" approach to investing and takes an active supporting role in its portfolio companies. Sverica devotes significant internal time and resources to help its management teams develop and execute growth strategies and proactively looks for levers to pull to accelerate growth by reinvesting back into those companies. Sverica firmly believes in building businesses collaboratively that can endure for the long term by starting with a durable foundation and bringing the right people and playbook to drive reinvestment and, ultimately, strong returns for its investors. For more information, please visit https://sverica.com.
About First Stop Health
First Stop Health (FSH) provides care that people love® with various digital healthcare services. Patients can access virtual care 24/7 via app, website or phone. FSH helps patients save time and money with safe, convenient, high-quality virtual care solutions — Primary Care, Urgent Care and Mental Health. FSH was named one of Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces of 2022 and 2023 and ranked one of the fastest-growing private companies for the past five years by Inc. 5000. For more information, please visit www.fshealth.com.
Media Contact
Emily Kunisch | Senior Manager, Marketing | First Stop Health
888-691-7867 x-410 | ekunisch@fshealth.com
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