A Beaverton health care startup has a new Tennessee-based owner.
GrowthPlug and Knoxville-based software company PracticeTek didn't reveal terms of the deal. The two sides said GrowthPlug will continue to operate unchanged under the leadership of founders Sudhir Bhatti and Shavita Bhatti.
GrowthPlug provides health care practices with mobile-optimized websites, business listing management, social media publishing, reputation management and business analytics. The company, is backed by Portland investor Elevate Capital which invested $1 million in 2019.
PracticeTek provides software and payments for more than 16,000 health care practices. The company formed in 2020 and is backed by Lightyear Capital and Greater Sum Ventures.
GrowthPlug and its team of 50 has nearly doubled revenue year-over-year, said CEO Sudhir Bhatti. He said he felt no pressure to sell the company and that the team has regularly received in-bound offers from growth equity and strategic investors.
“We are still under 1,000 customers. With this partnership we get access to thousands more customers in a very natural manner,” Bhatti said in explaining the company’s decision to go with a strategic investor. “It empowers our sales team in a big way. That is what got us very excited.”
The team can also tap into the communal knowledge of, and map future product features with, other executives in the PracticeTek portfolio.
"Every startup is looking for ways to open this kind of (sales) channel. That is where we felt this is a very natural fit for us. GSV and Lightyear are a perfect partner," said Bhatti.
For its part, PracticeTek believes GrowthPlug’s capabilities complement its own suite.
“Independent health care practices are increasingly focused on growing their patient base, as well as having a unified online presence,” said Eric Leaver, CEO of PracticeTek in a written statement. “GrowthPlug is a market leader in this category and is well-positioned to capitalize on the wave of digitization in practice software.”
As part of this deal, Elevate exits its position in the company. The startup moved to Beaverton in 2019 after the Elevate investment.
“We are so proud of Sudhir, Shavita, and the entire GrowthPlug team for their achievements and the great returns provided to Elevate Capital in just three short years,” said Nitin Rai, managing partner at Elevate, in a written statement. “Elevate Capital’s investment in GrowthPlug supported their move from Silicon Valley to Beaverton, and since then, it’s been an incredible and big win for Beaverton’s startup ecosystem.”
