Tampa-based technology-enabled health care platform Apaly has raised $2.4 million in seed funding.
Investors from across the country participated in the seed round, led by Pittsburgh-based venture firm 412 Ventures. The move comes after six years of building Apaly in the Tampa Bay area, and the capital enables the firm to hire salespeople and improve the software platform.
"We got to where we are through fighting and scrapping, and now we realize, 'OK, to scale this thing, we need structure,'" CEO and founder Dr. Jerry Beinhauer said. "That's the position we're in now, is laying this all out so that it's smooth and can flow."
Apaly is a platform to connect direct primary care providers with employees and families of employers. Direct primary care providers are doctors participating in a payment model where patients pay periodic payments for specific services, according to Investopedia.
Today, the startup is a member of the nonprofit hub Embarc Collective. It employs 18 people worldwide, with developers in Albania and Brazil, Beinhauer said.
Beinhauer founded the company in 2018 after selling his company, Auronexus, a health care data platform. Apaly operated as Appley Health Inc. in its early days.
The startup launched through Beinhauer's self-funding. It later closed $400,000 in funding in 2022.
"We've actually found a lot of traction outside of the Tampa Bay market," Beinhauer said about its customers and investors.
Apaly's investors include Florida Community Health Network, based in Fort Lauderdale, and Colorado-based Ikigai Growth Partners and First Mile Ventures.
Beinhauer is a graduate of Pasco County-based Saint Leo University and holds a doctorate in medicine from Central America Health Sciences University in Belize, according to his LinkedIn.
