UpStream nabs $140M to expand nationwide, scale up value-based care services

UpStream Healthcare, a managed services organization, has raised $140 million in a series B funding round. 

The round was co-led by Coatue and Dragoneer alongside participation from Avidity Partners, Define Ventures and Mubadala. Upstream works with value-based providers serving Medicare patients and has raised nearly $185 million to date. It plans to use the funding to scale nationwide.

The company embeds pharmacist-led care teams into primary care practices and supports clinicians with a platform that anticipates patient needs, supports patient care, improves quality and helps coordinate care.

UpStream takes on full risk for patients and built its platform to improve both outcomes and financial performance, executives said.

Thus far, UpStream claims to have helped its provider clients decrease inpatient and post-acute care spend by 20% while maintaining an average 4.5-star quality performance for patients. The company currently operates in North Carolina, Virginia and South Carolina. 

“As an early investor, we’ve been thrilled with UpStream’s progress. Together, UpStream and its physician partners have improved patient outcomes and decreased costs of care significantly beyond our initial expectations,” Eric Jones, partner at Dragoneer, said in a press release. “We’re excited to deepen our commitment to the company as they expand to make their services available to physicians nationwide.”

More than 2,900 physicians providing care to 175,000 senior patients now use UpStream’s platform, helping ensure better outcomes and financial performance. The company has announced new 2023 network relationships such as with Community Care Physician Network in North Carolina, Tidewater Medical Group in Virginia and Medical University of South Carolina Health Alliance along with independent physician association Primary Care Associates in South Carolina.

“We’re honored to have attracted such a diverse and stellar mix of top investors—each of whom bring unique quality and experience that’ll be invaluable for us to continue growing,” UpStream’s co-founder and CEO Sanjay Doddamani, M.D., a cardiologist by training, said in the announcement. Primary care physicians often lack resources to achieve their goals, he noted, and struggle to “thrive financially in the value-based care era.”

“Robust population analytics and interoperable data are mission-critical to delivering better outcomes for patients,” Aaron Weiner, managing director of Coatue, said in the announcement. “Coatue believes UpStream’s technology platform can become category-defining in its regard for value-based primary care.”