Practice Better is the result of its founder, Nathalie Garcia, needing a better way to manage her nutritionist practice so she didn’t burn out.
Garcia created Practice Better in 2016 as an all-in-one software for wellness providers to manage a range of services, from scheduling to telehealth to payments. Since its launch, the startup claims to have reached more than 10,000 customers in more than 70 countries. Practice Better says the majority of this came through word of mouth, and with little outside financing.
Earlier this year, Practice Better raised $27 million USD to expand the reach of its platform even further.
Management software for health and wellness professionals became especially prevalent during COVID-19.
The financing came solely from Five Elms Capital, a Kansas City-based growth equity firm that invests in business-to-business (B2B) software companies. Practice Better called the $27 million USD investment a growth round, and did not disclose whether Five Elms had acquired a majority stake in the company. Five Elms typically invests between $5 million to $75 million USD for either minority or majority stakes in companies.
Five Elms’ portfolio also includes Toronto-based Ten Thousand Coffees, for which the firm invested $75 million CAD last year. Ten Thousand Coffees also did not disclose whether Five Elms Capital had taken a majority stake in the startup.
Prior to this round, Practice Better had raised just $1 million CAD from Disruption Ventures in 2021. Disruption is the Toronto-based venture firm run by Elaine Kunda that invests in women-led businesses.
Practice Better will use its latest funding round to expand the capabilities of its management platform. The startup also hopes to sign strategic partnerships to help it grow its customer base.
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Garcia originally built Practice Better to serve her own needs as a holistic nutritionist, which is why it has a nutrition and lifestyle tracker built in (Holistic nutritionists are alternative providers, not regulated health professionals). The platform has since expanded to serve other clients in the complementary and alternative medicine space, including naturopaths and chiropractors, as well as service providers such as mental health therapists.
Austin Gideon, a partner at Five Elms, stated that Practice Better has seen a 300 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since its inception. He argued that Practice Better has been able to do this because when it launched, it entered “a market in desperate need of innovation.”
Management software for health and wellness professionals became especially prevalent during COVID-19, when practitioners needed virtual ways to book, bill, schedule, and conduct virtual visits with clients. The market has a plethora of companies looking to tackle practice management. In terms of Canadian startups, that includes Jane Software, which has grown steadily over the past couple of years.
Feature image courtesy Practice Better.
