Back in May, health-tech startup Outcome Health, raised more than $500 million from investors, making it the most valuable tech “unicorn” in Chicago at $5 billion. On Tuesday, the company disclosed some of its plans for the money, which includes a new downtown office tower for 2,000 employees the company plans to add by 2022.
The new "Outcome Tower," as it's called, at 515 N. State St. in River North will not only operate as an office for Outcome Health employees, but also as a co-working and entrepreneurship campus for other Chicago startups as the area becomes increasingly a place that attracts health-tech companies. Outcome Health has leased nearly 400,000 square feet in the new building and plans to move in by April.
Outcome Health, founded by Rishi Shah and Shradha Agarwal in 2006, designs and manufactures tablets for physician waiting and exam rooms that help patients visually and effectively understand their medical condition. They currently employ more than 600 people.
"We have a big mission here," Agarwal said. "We have an exciting product roadmap ahead of us to bring innovation into this critical conversation. To do all of those things, and do it at a global scale, requires a lot of amazing talent, a lot of people who believe in this mission. So bringing on the right team members is really part of that growth."
More than 231,000 healthcare providers across the country use Outcome’s technology, and the company expects 70 percent of all U.S. physician practices to use it by 2020.
The funding round that will help pay for the new workspace was Outcome Health’s first outside investment since the company’s inception. Investors included Goldman Sachs Investment Partners and Google parent Alphabet’s growth equity investment fund CapitalG.
From 2011 to 2016, Chicago’s health companies raised more than $759 million in funding, according to a recent study by the Health Care Council of Chicago. Outcome Health, which has its own venture arm, has invested $25 million in 45 companies in the Chicagoland area.
"Four years ago, there were 35 employees," said Mayor Rahm Emanuel at a press conference announcing the new office. "Fast forward, we're now talking about 2,400 employees, and that's a testament to the growth of not only this company, but [Shah and Agarwal's] entrepreneurship and their determination."
