🦈 Everly Health: Shark Tank's $3B Success

Read time: 5 minutes

Good morning! It's Friday, April 5th. Today's post looks at Everly Health, the company helping you skip the doctor's office with at-home testing!

THE FEATURE

🦈 Everly Health: Shark Tank's $3B Success

Shark Tank has led to plenty of massively successful companies, such as Squatty Potty and Bomas, which have $175M and $225M in lifetime sales, respectively. 

However, Shark Tank's biggest winner is arguably Julia Cheek and her company, Everly Health, an at-home diagnostic test provider. 

In 2022, Everly Health raised $170M at a $3.6B valuation with an estimated $250M in annual revenue!

The Founding Story

Even after a $1M investment from Shark Tank's Lori Greiner, Everly Health struggled to get off the ground. 

That's because Everly Health and its products spooked investors, who viewed the company as eerily similar to Elizabeth Holmes and her fraudulent blood-testing company Theranos, which was notorious enough to have a movie made about it. 

However, and most importantly, Everly Health differs from Theranos since its at-home tests actually work. The company was hailed as one of the most essential COVID-19 test providers, having distributed 45 million tests by December 2021. 

Everly Health's primary services come from its subsidiary, Everlywell. Through Everlywell, consumers can access 30+ at-home tests. After receiving a sample collection kit in the mail, customers simply mail their specimens—such as blood and urine samples—back to Everlywell and wait for their online results. 

This makes regular health testing with Everlywell far more convenient than in-person medical appointments. But pairing convenience with reliable testing costs a pretty penny for its customers. Take a look at Everlywell's pricing on some of its most purchased tests: 

• Comprehensive Food Sensitivity Test: $299

• Women's Health Test: $249

• STD Test: $169

• Metabolism Test: $99

The Innovation: Leveraging its COVID Revenue Surge

Using the surge in revenue and funding from the company's stellar performance during the pandemic, Julia Creek expanded her company through two crucial acquisitions:

• PWNHealth: a national clinician network to help with early detection via telehealth

• Home Access Health: an at-home diagnostic testing distributor

These acquisitions turned her DTC unicorn startup Everlywell into parent company Everly Health Solutions, which has 350 clients, including some of the largest health plans, employers, and labs in the US. 

The acquisitions also made her company a part of consumers' health solutions, not just their diagnoses. For instance, Everlywell now offers a $299 3-month program for "Elimination Diet Coaching" that includes one-on-one meetings with a registered dietitian. 

The company also has retail products now. Through an acquisition of women's health company Natalist, Everly Health distributes everything from prenatal gummies to nausea relief tea. 

Key Observation

Every founder has their struggles, and for Julia Creek, her struggle was to escape from the shadow of Theranos' failures. 

Early on, investors made so many comments on her and her company's likeness to Elizabeth Holmes that her advisors told her to dye her hair brunette to stop the connection. 

Creek didn't dye her hair, though, and she didn't need to. By providing reliable tests and shoring up kits during the pandemic, she proved the legitimacy of her company to investors and ended any future allusions to Theranos. 

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