Zakaria Reitano, co-founder and CEO of Ro, said he would “never say never” that he would take the seven-year-old telemedicine company public, but it is privately held. He said he believes the benefits of this are increasing.
Reitano fielded multiple questions from Axios reporter Dan Primack at Axios' BFD event on Oct. 22 about whether the company has plans to IPO in the near term or in general. I got away.
“This may not be a satisfactory answer, but the truth is that at this point we are focused on providing the highest quality products to our patients,” Reitano said.
Ro has raised over $1 billion in venture capital from General Catalyst, Initialized Capital, Torch Capital, and others. Ro recently raised $150 million in a round led by ShawSpring Partners, valuing the company at approximately $6.6 billion.
Reitano's sentiment is likely shared by other late-stage startup founders as venture-backed companies continue to go private, according to PitchBook data. Another factor driving companies private is the rise of secondary markets, which have become an increasingly popular means of providing liquidity to investors and employees. However, much of the activity is centered around a small number of companies.
He also talked about the company's big “uncomfortable bet” on weight loss drugs that will be available on the platform in 2023. Ro was founded in 2017 by Rob Schutz, Saman Rahmanian, and Reitano as a telemedicine company focused on erectile dysfunction. The company has further expanded its men's and women's health categories, including hair growth, fertility, and skin health. However, it is now well known as a provider of multiple GLP-1 options.
Reitano said the company began developing a program to offer such medicines in 2021 and shifted a significant portion of its resources to this category at that time. It is currently one of the fastest growing areas of the company's business.
“Health care providers want their patients to take it, and patients are desperate for it. Nothing like this has ever happened in any drug category before, so our perspective Given this, the proliferation and widespread use of GLP-1 is inevitable,” Reitano said.
He said the expansion was natural for the company at the time because conditions such as obesity impact many of the other health categories the company focuses on, such as fertility and sexual health conditions such as erectile dysfunction. he added.