Here's how this Bay Area startup is trying to become the 'Door Dash of blood draws'

Doctors can glean a lot about their patients via telemedicine appointments.

But there are a few things they can't get from such virtual visits. Among them: vital signs and blood samples for testing.

The founders of Sprinter Health Inc. formed it to meet that need. The recently-launched company calls itself the "DoorDash of blood draws," because it sends workers to peoples' homes and offices to collect blood samples and vital information to complement their telehealth visits.

"The goal is to be able to go into the home and to meet the patient where they're at," said Max Cohen, co-founder and CEO of the Menlo Park-based startup. "The main point is we want to be able to collect data that providers can use to make the right clinical decisions."

Sprinter allows patients or their doctors to schedule visits. It then sends an employee, dubbed a "sprinter," to patients' homes or offices to collect blood or urine samples from them or to record their vital information, such as their weight, pulse rate or blood pressure.

The sprinter transports the samples to a lab or transmits the vital data to patients' doctors. Their caregivers can then use the information or test results to make better-informed decisions about patients' health, Cohen said.

Sprinter charges $79 for a basic blood draw and more for additional services. The company also offers rapid antigen Covid-19 testing, priced at $99 for one test and $50 for each additional test within the household.

The company's service is well-suited to busy professionals who have a hard time stepping away from work to get a blood draw done, Cohen said.

"This isn't for everyone," he said. "Where we can really come in handy are for people who are pretty busy."

Sprinter's service is also useful for people who have a hard time traveling to labs or medical offices, said Cameron Behar, Sprinter's co-founder and chief technology officer.

"We are seeing a number of folks who are interested in booking on behalf of their children, on behalf of their aging parents," he said.

Sprinter recently launched its service in the Bay Area and Sacramento. Next it plans to offer service in Los Angeles and San Diego, followed by Texas and Florida in 2022.

Despite making the comparison itself to DoorDash Inc., Sprinter has an important distinction from the food delivery behemoth and other such companies. Instead of using self-employed gig workers, the startup uses trained specialists whom it hires as employees.

Sprinter isn't the only company offering mobile lab services. There are other, smaller companies that send out phlebotomists to collect blood draws. But Cohen considers them potential partners rather than definite rivals.

"The market will eventually be so large that we're not concerned about who's first or second," Cohen said. "Health care is not a winner-take-all model."

Sprinter's potential has already proven attractive to venture investors. Earlier this month, it announced it had raised $33 million in a Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz. To date, the company has raised $37.6 million total from investors including former U.S. Senator Bill Frist and Tony Xu, DoorDash's CEO .

The company's goal is to provide medicine's new "missing link" by making lab services simple and accessible, Cohen said.

"We want to make this type of service as easy as ordering food delivery," Cohen said. "We are building a company that makes sense within the context of where health care is going."