Closing the Healthcare Gap: Vitable Raises $16M Series A to Revolutionize Access to Quality Primary Care for Underserved Communities

Philadelphia, PA (July 19, 2024) - Vitable, an enhanced Direct Primary Care company working with SMB employers to deliver affordable, high-quality healthcare to hourly workers, today announced it has raised a $16M Series A led by Cherryrock Capital with participation from newark venture partners, Citi Impact Fund, First Round Capital, Commerce Ventures, and Y Combinator. Since its founding in 2020, Vitable has raised over $25M in venture capital. 

Vitable plans to use the newly raised capital to rapidly expand into new states while further strengthening the coverage of their enhanced Direct Primary Care plan and ACA compliance solutions. The company hopes to be available in over 40 states shortly, and has already leveraged the new funding to launch Vitable in Florida earlier this month with Texas and Ohio to follow shortly. Vitable will also continue to invest in growing their primary care and care navigation capabilities to support self-insured employers.

Founded by Joseph Kitonga, Vitable was developed to fill the healthcare gap for working families who make too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford comprehensive health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs. 

Kitonga is a former Thiel Fellow, Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, and Y Combinator alum. He grew up helping his parents bootstrap a home healthcare agency after immigrating from Kenya. One of the challenges the business faced was finding a healthcare plan that was affordable for hourly employees, where many workers lived without any coverage at all. Too often he noticed employees forced to rely on the ER and urgent care for basic care, continuing the cycle of debt and making upward mobility very difficult. 

“Vitable has a big opportunity to positively impact individuals and families in the U.S. by providing new, more affordable healthcare options for shift workers and those working in small businesses,” said Ryan Alam, SVP, Principal, Citi Impact Fund.

After coming across a study that highlighted how access to high-quality primary care can impact 20-year difference in the average life expectancy within two neighborhoods less than 5 miles apart, Kitonga decided to do something about it. At the age of 21, he turned down a full-time offer at Microsoft as a software engineer and left school to build Vitable full-time as a way to increase access to high-quality care for hourly employees.