Fast-Growing Telehealth Startup Expands HQ With McKinney EDC Innovation Fund Grant

The McKinney Economic Development Corporation’s Innovation Fund is landing tech startups at warp speed, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the past eight months, the Innovation Fund—an incentive-based fund that aims to spur and accelerate the growth of innovation-focused companies—has generated 11 new tech headquarters, along with startup relocations and expansions, for a total of 230 new jobs.

We previously told you about Blockit, a healthcare SaaS company; EnginSoft, an engineering company in the field of Computer Aided Engineering (CAE); and CourMed, a crowdsourced healthcare delivery platform, receiving grants through the fund.

Now, the McKinney EDC is adding another name to that list with MyTelemedicine, a virtual platform that provides the healthcare industry with technology and an extensive API suite.

With its grant from the MEDC Innovation Fund, MyTelemedicine plans to expand its McKinney headquarters. That will equate to 40 new high-tech and executive jobs over the next three years, which brings the startup’s total number of employees to 63, per a statement. The average salary for those jobs is $70,000.

MyTelemedicine lauds its SaaS platform as an innovative, feature-rich solution. The startup essentially offers its own virtual health technology ecosystem: In powering access to modern remote healthcare technologies, MyTelemedicine allows healthcare providers to manage their patients virtually.

“MyTelemedicine has been enhancing healthcare access through user-friendly, cloud-based technologies that connect patients with their healthcare providers well before the demand became what it is today,” MyTelemedicine CEO Rey Colon said in a statement. “We’ve seen nothing but enormous potential and growth prior to the elevated demand the telehealth industry has faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

MyTelemedicine will move into its new headquarters at the Cotton Mill near downtown McKinney. [Image: Courtesy MyTelemedicine]

Colon, who helped create AmeriDoc, which was acquired by Teladoc in 2013, co-founded MyTelemedicine in 2015 with Jesse Roach, the startup’s chief technology officer.

The team saw a growing opportunity in the digital healthcare space and it paid off, even before COVID—over the last three-year period, MyTelemedicine has grown 406 percent. On the Inc. 5000, it ranked No. 1,112 among the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S.

“The growth we’ve experienced as well as the awarding of an Innovation Fund grant, will only expedite our plans to scale,” Colon said. “Working with the MEDC was an easy process and it’s clear they know the lifecycle of a startup, it shows within the context of the fund and aligns to their goals of scaling the innovation economy in the city.”

MyTelemedicine’s technology is accessible through brands like Access a Doctor and Zeal.ly Health, in which patients are able to receive care for their common acute illnesses or chronic conditions.

Members of the services are able to schedule on-demand consultations with licensed physicians who are able to provide medical guidance or a diagnosis. Physicians are available via video chat for primary and specialized care treatments, and prescriptions are sent to the closest pharmacy or delivered directly to a patient’s home.

MyTelemedicine’s flagship brand, Access a Doctor, currently services more than 2 million members nationwide.

“Our extensive API suite allows technology partners and providers to seamlessly integrate and deploy a telehealth offering to their users,” Colon said. “I don’t see demand within the industry ever decreasing as the offering continues to become a medical need. The scalability of our platform is a consistent upward trend.”

[Image: Courtesy MyTelemedicine]

According to the MEDC, its Innovation Fund was created specifically for startups like MyTelemedicine.

Through programs, funding, and support systems, the fund is designed for businesses that wouldn’t traditionally qualify for economic incentives. It aims to invest in companies with high growth potential, such as innovators in the tech and startup sector who are leading the way for “Economic Development 2.0 organizations.”

Those that qualify sit at various levels of revenue and funding stages, but the fund is meant to grow with the company as it scales and supplement growth during the timeliest need.

“MyTelemedicine is the largest company we’ve invested in so far, so it’s exciting to see the company portfolio range from all levels and sizes of startups,” Danny Chavez, the senior vice president at the MEDC, said in a statement. “We’re continuing the momentum and our team is hitting the mark on our goals for the fund in growing our technology ecosystem.”

According to the MEDC, MyTelemedicine has started preparing to move into its new headquarters at the Cotton Mill near downtown McKinney. The location is known to be a hub for successful startups like Bossfight Entertainment and Words with Friends.

“McKinney continues to be a magnet for healthtech startups and being able to work with a fast growing and scalable company, with many notable accolades like MyTelemedicine is an amazing opportunity,” Chavez said. “Seeing success stories like these within our targeted industries for the fund, is proof of concept of our streamlined economic development process.”