The Weeknd, SoftBank Lead Forward Health’s $225M Fundraise

Forward Health has raised $225 million from investors including SoftBank as well as pop singer The Weeknd, Reuters reported.

Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund is another major backer, and others include Khosla Ventures and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, according to Reuters.

Forward’s technology is used for biometric body scans, genetic testing and blood tests in order to determine what diseases a patient is likely to have later in life. That information is then used to set customers up with health plans that could stop the diseases. If the patient has a higher risk of getting heart disease, for example, Forward Health will set them up with a custom-tailored program and a doctor to help work on the problem, Reuters reported.

With the new funding, Forward plans to expand to more U.S. cities and introduce new programs based around heart health, cancer detection, COVID-19, stress, anxiety and weight management, according to Reuters.

The company’s focus on preventative healthcare has given it a boost during the pandemic as remote health services have been in demand. Founder and CEO Adrian Aoun said, per Reuters, the idea for the platform came after his brother had a heart attack.

While Forward didn’t specifically talk about its valuation, Reuters quoted an anonymous source who said the round will make Forward a “unicorn,” meaning it will have a value of $1 billion or more.

Existing backers of the company include former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and actor Ashton Kutcher.

Telehealth has been popular in the U.S. amid the pandemic, which also did something less obvious for telehealth in that it changed regulations to help more broadly offer it. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) temporarily did away with the geographic and site-related restrictions on use of video, allowing telehealth visits to be reimbursed by Medicare and Medicaid.