Buffalo-based startup Centivo has continued to grow by focusing on what people need.
That comes down to three areas that drive the company’s decision-making, said Ashok Subramanian, CEO of the health-benefits company.
“It always comes back to quality, access and cost,” he said.
Centivo, headquartered at the University at Buffalo Downtown Gateway building, aims to reimagine health care as a partnership between employers and medical providers, hoping to simultaneously drive down cost and improve health care.
Since it was founded in 2017, the business has raised $148 million in private capital, most recently last year getting a $30 million investment from Morgan Health, a business unit under JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Since 2020, the business has grown its client total by 800% and grown revenue at an even faster rate, Subramanian said.
The team had 250 employees, with 74 in Buffalo, as of summer 2022. Now it has 272 employees, with 81 locally based. The company expects to increase its team by about 10% this year.
Keeping quality, access and cost of health care in mind led the startup to pilot in 2022 and launch in January 2023 its own virtual care offerings through Centivo Care, a unit of the business made up of an in-house primary care team.
The service means that a client's primary care team is consistent and high-quality, while making health care accessible through virtual means. If there’s a need, like an X-ray for example, the team will coordinate an in-person visit.
“We thought it was really important to build relationships, so we created a practice by which we’re treating patients the exact same way you might be treated in a physical practice,” he said. “The only difference is you’re meeting these people through virtual means and app messaging and so on.”
The business opted to create its own Centivo Care team versus doing partnerships so that people are consistently working with the same health care team.
The company also recently released its 400-employee survey called Centivo's Employer & Broker Health Plan Trends Survey Report. It’s just the latest information put out by the company, which wants to build credibility in the market.
“It’s a common challenge for startups and entrepreneurs, but it’s a good place to be when you have that data and it’s our job to get that out into the market,” Subramanian said.
While revenue, profits and raising capital are important, he encouraged entrepreneurs to focus on: Is there product market fit and is there value to the end users?
"If it does, the other things tend to take care of themselves," he said.
