Hued, a female-led healthcare startup based in New York, has raised $1.6 million in seed funding to continue diversifying the patient-physician experience.
The seed funding round counted with the participation of Female Founder Fund, Serena Ventures (Serena Williams Venture Capitalist firm), Black Founders Matter, and Gingerbread Capital, as well as angel investor & healthcare leader Halle Tecco. Anu Duggal, a founding partner of Female Founders Fund, referred to the firm’s participation in the round by stating:
“We are thrilled to back Kimberly and her vision for HUED in making health care more equitable for millions of Black and Latinx patients. She has built exciting traction with a strong team and we believe the HUED model will have a massive impact on health-care outcomes in this country.”
The startup was founded by Kimberly Wilson after passing through a bad experience when receiving treatment for fibroid diagnosis, which she attributed to bias and discrimination in the current healthcare system. To combat this, Hued aims to connect black and Latinx patients with “culturally competent” healthcare providers. Wilson referred to this mission by telling CNBC:
“I think that the pandemic, while horrific and tragic, really amplified the disparities that exist within health care that can no longer be ignored. Essentially, there are not many companies that focus specifically on health equity and addressing [Black and Latinx] populations that were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and I think our solution was just very attractive to VCs.”
The startup will use the funding to scale its platform to better allow patients and physicians to engage with each other, as well as provide healthcare providers with antiracism and implicit bias training, as well as growing its team.
Racial bias has been a growing concern in the health industry, which has prompted media outlets like Nature and the TV show “Last Week Tonight” to cover the topic to improve awareness. Now, healthcare startups like Hued are taking matters into their own hands.
