Peter Foley, CEO of LetsGetChecked. Image: Bryan Meade
Reports suggest that LetsGetChecked, headquartered in Dublin and New York, will raise $150m through a convertible note offering to help finance the deal.
Irish health testing start-up LetsGetChecked is planning to acquire US digital pharmacy provider Truepill.
Founded by Peter Foley in 2015, LetsGetChecked builds and delivers at-home testing kits including hormone tests, fertility tests, HPV tests and wellness tests for cholesterol and diabetes.
During the pandemic, LetsGetChecked was quick to pivot to providing Covid-19 testing kits after securing FDA approval. The company reached unicorn status in 2021 following a $150m Series D funding round led by Casdin Capital.
According to Axios, California-headquartered Truepill has agreed to the $525m acquisition offer made by LetsGetChecked this week. $25m of the purchase is in cash, while the remainder is in stock. Axios said the purchase includes another $200m in possible earnouts tied to revenue milestones.
Both LetsGetChecked and Truepill are backed by Optum Ventures, a Boston-based venture capital firm that invests in healthcare tech. Axios reports that LetsGetChecked will raise around $150m through a convertible note offering to help finance the deal.
This comes two years after the Irish start-up dually headquartered in Dublin and New York secured $20m from Morgan Health, a business unit of JPMorgan Chase, as part of a Series D2 funding round led by Casdin Capital and Transformation Capital.
Axios said that the new company following the deal is expected to use the Truepill name, at least initially, and retain most of Truepill’s senior management.
In 2022, LetsGetChecked expanded its at-home testing services to include genome sequencing, through the acquisition of Veritas Genetics and Veritas Intercontinental. It also acquired BioIQ, an analytics-driven population health and diagnostics company.
Last November, the start-up received FDA authorisation for an at-home sample collection system to test for chlamydia and gonorrhoea. Earlier that month, LetsGetChecked appointed Joe Keenan as head of life sciences on its commercial team.
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