VCs Give Solace Health $1 Billion Valuation for Patient Advocacy Tech

The demand for help navigating the famously complex US health care system has propelled a startup called Solace Health to a $1 billion valuation — offering health advocacy for people trying to schedule appointments, interpret treatment plans and understand medical bills.

Venture capital firm IVP led the financing, which brought in $130 million for the startup, Solace plans to announce Tuesday. Other investors include Menlo Ventures, SignalFire, Torch Capital, Inspired Capital and RiverPark Ventures.

Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Gurewitz started the company in 2022, after his mother died from pancreatic cancer. Although his mom was a doctor herself, she struggled with the health system during her cancer treatment, Gurewitz said.

“The experience really, really sucked,” he said. “When you get a terminal illness that’s one thing, but the nature of how difficult it was for her to receive care was a totally different thing.”

Solace currently has more than 2,000 patient advocates on its platform, all of whom are registered nurses. The startup’s tech handles Medicare billing, and offers tools like an in-house electronic medical records system to connect patient health histories. In return, the company takes a variable share of the Medicare reimbursements paid to the advocates using its platform.

IVP general partner Eric Liaw, who led Solace’s latest funding round, compared Solace’s model to mental health startups like Grow Therapy and Headway, which act as middlemen to connect patients and providers while managing insurance reimbursement and other administrative tasks on the back end.

The Solace investment fits an important theme IVP has been leaning into, Liaw said: aging and longevity. As people live longer, the costs on the health care system increase. “If we can help people get on the journey to the right care they need sooner, you’ll probably see better results, and that actually saves money in the long term,” he said.

Solace has raised $211 million to date. Gurewitz said the startup plans to put much of its fresh funding toward marketing and hiring, especially in its engineering, product and design segments. Solace also plans to build out a research team with the goal of publishing articles in medical journals on the clinical and financial impacts of advocacy services.

Medicare began covering health care advocacy services in 2024 for people with chronic and complex health conditions. Longer term, Solace hopes to have its services covered by private health insurers.

Because difficulty with maneuvering health services is a nearly universal issue, Liaw sees potential for Solace to create a training academy to help more people become health care advocates. “I think the need for advocates is going to be insatiable,” he said.