The last year has been a "whirlwind," according to the founder of a Memphis-based startup. But, in this case, it is not due to COVID.
Since the start of 2020, Erica Plybeah has received investments in her firm, MedHaul, from big names — Google, Morgan Stanley, and Citi — in the technology and finance industries.
Citi is the latest investor in MedHaul, a cloud-based tech that streamlines finding and booking transportation to health care facilities via quality providers.
On Jan. 25, 2021, Citi announced that MedHaul was included in the latest round of investments from its new venture capital fund, the Citi Impact Fund.
“We're the first seed-stage company Citi Ventures has ever invested in,” Plybeah said. “They typically invest in Series B companies or later. Series B stage companies are much further along, [with] several millions of dollars in revenue [and] hundreds of customers.”
In 2020, Citi launched the $200 million Citi Impact Fund, which is focused on businesses addressing five societal challenges: workforce development; financial capability; physical and social infrastructure; sustainability; and access to capital and economic opportunity.
“They are committed to finding entrepreneurs who are solving large-impact problems,” Plybeah said.
A spokesperson for Citi declined to disclose the investment amount. As a traditional venture capital fund, Citi’s stake in MedHaul is an equity investment, Plybeah said.
“[Citi] is not just solving for racial or gender inequality, but also geographic inequality, as well,” Plybeah said. “Because, if you look at the [locations] of the new companies [selected], you have California, New York, Massachusetts, and then you have Memphis.”
She noted that 75% of venture capital goes to those three states.
In April 2020, Morgan Stanley’s Multicultural Innovation Lab selected MedHaul for its accelerator, generally coming with a $200,000 investment. And, in October 2020, Google invested $50,000 via its Google for Startups initiative.
Plybeah continues to receive mentorship from Google — including a physician affiliated with its Google Maps teams, as well as Google business development expertise from its health care and life sciences teams.
In total, MedHaul has raised $1.3 million since its founding in 2017 — the bulk of that being $1.22 million in an equity round. Innova Memphis is the lead investor in MedHaul.
In late January, MedHaul was also selected as a portfolio company of Atlanta-based Outlander Labs. Outlander is a new venture capital firm founded by Paige Craig and focused on the Southeast.
All that mentorship and investment has moved MedHaul forward on growth. The company now has nine staff members, and has expanded its reach into Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Georgia.
Plybeah and her team are fine-tuning the second version of the MedHaul technology and recruiting transportation providers for its growing network.
And, investments from such large organizations such as Citi can help open doors and provide a roadmap for MedHaul’s next stops.
“There's no formal cookie-cutter structure [from Citi], Plybeah said. “Whatever the companies [invested in] need and whatever introductions you need, they can provide that for you.”
