Transforming the Telehealth Experience for Patients and Clinicians | Amwell Files IPO…Google Cloud to Invest $100 Million

Amwell has filed to go public under the New York Stock Exchange symbol AMWL. The announcement also revealed a strategic partnership with Google Cloud. This partnership includes a $100 million investment from Google Cloud, which will be a concurrent private placement at the IPO price. The company didn’t indicate a proposed size for the offering, nor did it give an anticipated price range, but it provided a placeholder amount of $100 million to calculate its registration fee. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs & Co., LLC, Piper Sandler, UBS Investment Bank, Credit Suisse and Cowen Berenberg are listed as underwriters for the IPO.

Amwell’s revenue was $114.0 million and $148.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively, representing a year-over-year growth rate of 30.6%. The company incurred net losses of $52.3 million and $88.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Revenue was $69.1 million and $122.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively, representing a year-over-year growth rate of 77%. Amwell incurred net losses of $41.6 million and $113.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively.

The Value of Amwell’s Digital Care Solution

Referencing Amwell’s IPO registration states, healthcare today faces many challenges. Choice and access can be limited, care delivery is fragmented and inefficient, and costs continue to rise and shift to consumers while health outcomes have not improved. The healthcare industry is evolving to meet these challenges with innovative care models and new regulatory frameworks to promote more effective outcomes. As healthcare’s key stakeholders demand innovative technology solutions that streamline care delivery, lower costs, expand access and improve outcomes, we believe there is significant opportunity for transformation.

Examples of the value Amwell’s digital care solution delivers throughout the US healthcare ecosystem

• Patients needing treatment for minor conditions can be seen same day and save an average of 2.5 hours compared to office visits, while those with acute or chronic conditions can be treated in clinics or in their homes while their physicians receive expert care guidance from specialists.

• Physicians can practice medicine from home offices as well as from clinical locations, enabling them to work on flexible schedules.

• We believe health systems are able to improve clinical pathways, more effectively manage resources across their network and improve provider quality of life by allowing remote treatments. Telehealth can offer significant protection to healthcare workers through online triage and efficient patient transfers, as well as help mitigate the impact of infectious disease. Health systems are better equipped to acquire and retain customers in an increasingly competitive marketplace that demands convenient care.

• Health plans and their employer clients utilize our platform to manage healthcare costs and deliver better health outcomes by expanding their care networks to fill gaps in care, shifting care to lower-cost settings and coordinating care more effectively across underutilized resources.

• Healthcare innovator companies such as Philips, Apple, and Cerner, have used our platform to develop and deliver novel telehealth services and products. Our platform allows this ecosystem of companies to create differentiated healthcare offerings by forming unique partnerships together, further increasing the reach and integration of their products and services.

Reference: Amwell IPO Registration, p. 2

Amwell & Google Cloud Partnership

With this multi-year partnership, Google Cloud and Amwell see an opportunity to improve patient and clinician telehealth experiences through technologies that can automate waiting room and checkout; provide automated language translation services; advance population health by making it easier for more patients to receive care; and assist payers and providers in routine tasks, by intelligently triaging cases and reducing clinician burnout. Ultimately the goal of this partnership is to improve patient and clinician telehealth experiences leveraging their unique technology capabilities, including AI/ML and collaboration tools.

This is a critical partnership for the healthcare industry and has the potential to dramatically transform the telehealth space through the use of modern cloud technologies. We are thrilled that together we can bring groundbreaking digital health solutions to so many providers, patients, and health plans across the globe. Our joint work will drive innovation in health in a new and powerful way.

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud

Partnership Essentials

The partnership involves the following key components:

• Google Cloud selects Amwell as its preferred global telehealth platform partner, and Amwell selects Google Cloud as its preferred global cloud platform partner and will migrate its video performance capabilities onto Google Cloud’s superior cloud platform for both new and existing customers around the globe.

• Both companies will engage in a strategic technology collaboration to bring the best of their technologies to enrich the telehealth experience, including focus on development work using Google Cloud artificial-intelligence and machine-learning technologies to assist patients and front-line workers with intake, inquiries, and triage; natural language and translation services for non-native speakers; G Suite tools like Meet to improve collaboration among healthcare staff and with their patients; and sophisticated data analytics tools to aid in remote home health monitoring by providers and insurers.

• The partnership aims to make the healthcare experience much simpler and more continuously accessible to underserved populations. The companies will seek to enable the healthcare industry to serve seniors and patients with chronic illnesses in new ways, without compromising on care quality or user trust.

• Both companies will engage in go-to-market strategy alignment and execution to expand access to virtual care delivery into their mutual customer accounts, leveraging the global presence of Google Cloud.

• Products and services under the partnership follow security and privacy as core principles and adhere to strict guidance regarding data access and usage, including industry regulations regarding patient health information, such as HIPAA.

• Google Cloud will invest $100 million into Amwell to evolve and scale its telehealth portfolio to serve the needs of providers, insurers, and patients within current and new markets. Google Cloud’s investment will be a concurrent private placement at a purchase price that will be the same as the price to the public in Amwell’s IPO and will be contingent upon the closing of its IPO.

2020: The Year for Telehealth in America

Telehealth competition is strong right now. In the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, health systems saw dramatic spikes in virtual visits and telehealth adoption in the patient population. Technology firms such as Teladoc, Amwell, and Doctor on Demand, which offer real-time video consulting and telehealth platforms, have rushed to capitalize on unprecedented opportunities. Teladoc reported that total visits rose 92%, from 1,063,000 to 2,045,000 in the past quarter. 

Amwell’s IPO filing and strategic partnership announcement comes on the heels of the Teladoc’s recent plan to purchase Livongo. As Christina Farr from CNBC noted, Amwell told CNBC in May that it’s seen a 1,000% increase in visits due to coronavirus and closer to 3,000% to 4,000% in some places. In its IPO filing, the company said revenue had increased 77% in the first six months of 2020, compared with the same period a year ago, from $69 million to $122 million. However, its net loss nearly tripled over the same period, growing from $41 million in the first six months of 2019 to $111 million in the first half of this year.

About Amwell –

Amwell is a leading telehealth platform in the United States and globally, connecting and enabling providers, insurers, patients, and innovators to deliver greater access to more affordable, higher quality care. Amwell believes that digital care delivery will transform healthcare. The Company offers a single, comprehensive platform to support all telehealth needs from urgent to acute and post-acute care, as well as chronic care management and healthy living. With over a decade of experience, Amwell powers telehealth solutions for over 2,000 hospitals and 55 health plan partners with over 36,000 employers, covering over 80 million lives. For more information please visit https://business.amwell.com/. 

American Well, Amwell, and The Exchange are registered trademarks or trademarks of American Well Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

About Google Cloud

Google Cloud provides organizations with leading infrastructure, platform capabilities and industry solutions. We deliver enterprise-grade cloud solutions that leverage Google’s cutting-edge technology to help companies operate more efficiently and adapt to changing needs, giving customers a foundation for the future. Customers in more than 150 countries turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to solve their most critical business problems.