Labor marketplace ShiftMed secures $200 million to solve nurse shortage • businessroundups.org

Shift Med, a Virginia-based W-2 healthcare workforce management marketplace that focuses on nurses and assistants, closed $200 million in new funding. The company touts itself as “the number 1 ranked mobile app for professionals seeking flexible nursing jobs.”

Nursing shortages were a problem well before the global pandemic, and two years ago the Bureau of Labor Statistics updated its estimation that there would be more than 200,000 registered nurse vacancies in the US each year through 2031.

ShiftMed said the new funding will be used to expand its national footprint to close that gap in staffing needs. The mobile and cloud-based software offers nurses benefits such as guaranteed services, instant or next-day payment, Uber Health transportation, and health benefits. For hospitals and other healthcare organizations, it provides access to additional local staff, increases retention and creates part-time work.

Another goal of ShiftMed, it says, is to reduce reliance on traveling nurses, an industry that 45% share of the US healthcare workforce by 2021 and was expected to more than double $21.6 billion by 2026.

We’ve seen many reports of burnt-out nurses leaving the field during the pandemic over the past three years. In those days, travel nurses could command rates like $10,000 per weekwhich, depending on location, employer, and skill level, can be ten times more per week than what nurses earned.

ShiftMed touts that it can reduce operating costs by 30% to 40% compared to travel staff alternatives.

“By reducing reliance on traveling nurses, ensuring a compliant W-2 workforce and providing tools to increase retention, we see an avenue for major healthcare systems to transform the work framework to give them control and predictability” ShiftMed CEO Todd Walrath said in a written statement.

ShiftMed is the latest to secure some venture capital funding as a labor shortage provides startups with enough fuel to deploy technology to solve this problem. For example, Incredible Health, Gale Healthcare Solutions and Bemlo have all announced new funding in 2022 to offer their approaches in the form of marketplaces or job-matching programs.

The new investment was led by Panoramic Ventures, which was joined by Blue Heron Capital and Audacious Capital. Panoramic and Blue Heron were also part of it ShiftMed’s $45 Million Raise back in October 2021. The company did not respond to questions about valuation.

At the time, ShiftMed said it serves more than 56 markets and works with more than 700 business partners, including hospitals, skilled nursing homes, home care and assisted living providers. In addition, it had hired more than 10,000 nurses and the app was downloaded by more than 100,000 users.

Today, the company said it has grown 8x in revenue over the past two years, reaching 1,500 business partners in 110 markets and more than 350,000 registered nurses and assistants using the app.

Commenting on the company’s new financing, Paul Iaffaldano, general partner of Panoramic Ventures, added: “Healthcare providers need solutions that streamline workforce management, rebalance labor costs and improve patient outcomes with better care. We see the growth of ShiftMed as confirmation of the market need.”