ROCKVILLE, Md.– Health technology pioneer DrFirst today announced the closing of a $50 million equity investment from Sixth Street Growth, the growth investing platform of Sixth Street, a leading global investment firm. Following Sixth Street’s previous $35 million investment and another $50 million from Goldman Sachs Growth, both in 2020, DrFirst’s investment total over the past year is now $135 million.
DrFirst solutions are used by nearly 300,000 healthcare professionals, including more than 100,000 prescribers, nearly half of the electronic health record (EHR) systems in the U.S., and more than 1,400 hospitals in the U.S. and Canada. The company’s sustained business growth, long-standing work with leading health systems, expanding customer base, and proven leadership in the digital health solutions market underscore the investments.
Idea-driven product development is a hallmark of DrFirst, which strives to connect people at touchpoints of care with the information they need to improve patient outcomes. It has pioneered solutions for e-prescribing and medication management, care collaboration, medication adherence, and price transparency for prescriptions and medical procedures.
James F. Chen, CEO and chairman of DrFirst, founded the company in 2000 to tackle some of the most challenging issues in healthcare, starting with e-prescribing and progressing to its current portfolio of solutions, which encompasses telehealth as part of care collaboration and patented artificial intelligence (AI) that improves the accuracy of patient medication history.
“The follow-on investment from Sixth Street Growth signals their deep commitment to DrFirst as we continue to bring practical, collaborative tools to market that solve daily problems among healthcare stakeholders, including clinicians, patients, hospitals, ambulatory practices, pharmacies, and payers,” said Chen. “We’re also thrilled to have Sixth Street join our Board as an innovation-minded partner that understands the value and impact of secure information sharing in improving patient outcomes.”
Sixth Street Growth, which has a dedicated team focused on partnering with growing healthcare technology companies, is making its second investment in DrFirst in seven months.
“Software that improves healthcare workflows has been a long-term theme for our team, and DrFirst stands out as a scaled and differentiated enterprise technology platform providing high-quality, user-friendly technology solutions,” said Michael McGinn, partner and co-head of Sixth Street Growth. “Their offerings help physicians provide better, more informed care, which ultimately accrues to the benefit of patients and all healthcare stakeholders.”
Lee Mooney of Sixth Street has joined DrFirst’s Board of Directors.
DrFirst’s groundbreaking solutions serving the “Healthiverse”—the interconnected healthcare universe—have earned numerous awards and recognitions, including most recently, MedTech Breakthrough’s 2021 Artificial Intelligence Innovation Award and 2020 Best New e-Prescribing Solution Award, and Honorable Mentions in Fast Company’s AI & Data and Health categories of its 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards. DrFirst recently announced that its RxInform solution for patient educational information and prescription drug savings is available in the Epic App Orchard.
