The country's second fastest-growing private company, with a stated goal to become "the Starbucks of healthcare," put Columbus on its short list to start nationwide expansion.
Carbon Health Technologies Inc. recently opened urgent care clinics in Upper Arlington's Shops at Lane Avenue and at Easton Gateway in Columbus.
Both are focused on urgent care and Covid-19 testing, but the company plans to add full primary care services. No further Central Ohio expansion is in the works, a spokesman said via email.
So what makes Carbon different from any other urgent care chain? Venture capital backing for its back-office technology, including its web-based and mobile platform for booking appointments and receiving telehealth. Founded in 2017, the company aims to open access to affordable, inclusive, high-quality healthcare to anyone, according to its website.
It will meet plenty of competition in Central Ohio. The region's health systems are expanding their urgent care sites, and there are several independent operators and chains, including one of Columbus Business First's Fast 50 honorees this year.
That includes another startup seeking nationwide expansion. WellNow Urgent Care, based in suburban Buffalo, New York, nearly doubled its holdings in December with acquisition of Columbus-based Hometown Urgent Care & Occupational Health, with 34 sites in Ohio and Michigan.
Carbon Health has raised $537 million in VC to date, including $350 million this summer, according to the San Francisco Business Times, a CBF sister publication. The paper also has cited media reports that the company is considering an IPO at $3 billion valuation after talks ended to go public in a SPAC merger.
The company is No. 2 in this summer's Inc. 5000 list, the Business Times reported, propelled by nearly 40,000% three-year revenue growth from 2017-2020.
In December Carbon announced plans to open 150 clinics by the end of this year in just eight or nine new regions outside its home state – including Columbus, the Business Times reported. Other markets include Denver, Richmond, Austin and Philadelphia.
Besides building out its own sites, Carbon has expanded through acquisition, including in the Tucson area in August and New Jersey this month.
The company had brick-and-mortar clinics in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and some Nevada cities in June 2020, when the Business Times first cited co-founder CEO Eren Bali's oft-repeated goal of coffee chain ubiquity.
A side note: The Bay Area is so stuffed with startups raising mega-deals that the $350 million round – which would have spawned multiple headlines for a Columbus company – is one point in a weekly roundup in San Francisco.
The Upper Arlington clinic, located 1603 W. Lane Ave., opened in August, followed by Easton, at 4173 Worth Ave.
