Fort Worth-Based TimelyMD Raises $60M to Grow Its Telehealth for Higher Education

As on-campus mental health issues continue to surge, TimelyMD is serving ten-times the number of students than it was before the pandemic. The full-service student-first telehealth provider plans to use the new funding to continue enhancing students' care experience, improving health literacy at its 80 partner schools, and improving outcomes through technology.

Fort Worth-based TimelyMD, which lauds itself as the only full-service student-first telehealth provider, has received a $60 million investment from JMI Equity, a growth equity firm focused on software companies.

TimelyMD plans to use the funding to continue rapidly growing its on-demand virtual healthcare services. That includes: enhancing students’ care experience, improving health literacy at partner schools, improving outcomes through tech innovations, and growing its team.

JMI will be essential to achieving that. The firm has extensive experience in partnering with both healthcare and higher education companies, and will assist TimelyMD in developing its medical, mental health, and other solutions. California-based JMI has invested in more than 150 businesses and successfully completed 100-plus exits, according to a statement.

The announcement comes at a vital time in TimelyMD’s history, as the telehealth company has witnessed unprecedented national growth with the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nationally, TimelyMD has some 80 partner schools, including Duke, Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame, and Emory. Local participating academic institutions include Collin College, Paul Quinn College, and Abilene Christian University.

TimelyMD offers a complete care solution for campus health, with services related to everything from simple medical queries to moments of psychiatric crisis.

It’s all based on the idea that virtual medical and mental health care is accessible for college students anytime, anywhere.

With its around-the-clock campus health and counseling center resources, the company aims to have customized medical care, on-demand mental health support, scheduled counseling, psychiatry, and health coaching programs always available. There’s licensed providers in all 50 states, and unlimited, no-cost telehealth options. That means there’s often no hassle over traditional health insurance.

Founders Luke Hejl, Chris Clark and Alan Dennington attended Abilene Christian University together, and as the story goes, an idea to start a business occurred over dinner. It later snowballed into a yearlong research project into telehealth, specifically as it relates to higher education. [Photo: TimelyMD]

But TimelyMD’s broader mission is to improve the overall well-being of college students—a need that’s more critical now than ever.

With remote schooling in particular, TimelyMD says it has seen a marked increase in interest from schools across the country. Demand for virtual mental health services is surging.

Pre-COVID, 10 percent of TimelyMD telehealth visits were for mental health counseling, and that number is now more than 60 percent. Today, TimelyMD is serving ten-times the number of students than it was before the pandemic.

It’s a big undertaking for the Fort Worth company. A press release states that 75 percent of college students report consistently high levels of stress and anxiety, proving that the need for virtual mental health and well-being support services is imperative.

TimelyMD previously told Dallas Innovates that whether students are having an emotional crisis, a cold, or COVID, it works to break down barriers to care. There’s also the ability to connect with a provider from a student’s unique perspective, including those related to race, religion, or LGBTQ+ identity.

“Our mission at TimelyMD is to improve the well-being of college students by making virtual medical and mental health care accessible anytime, anywhere,” CEO and Co-Founder Luke Hejl said in a statement. “This investment from JMI enables TimelyMD to achieve our vision to empower students to be well and thrive, eliminate barriers to care for an exponentially greater number of students, and better serve a growing and diverse range of institutions.”