Carbon Health

Carbon Health Inc.
IndustryPrimary healthcare, urgent care
Founded2015 (2015)
Founders
  • Eren Bali
  • Tom Berry
  • Greg Burell
  • Caesar Djavaherian
HeadquartersSan Francisco
Number of locations
101 (2022)
Total equityUS$3.3 billion (2021)
Number of employees
2,309 (2021)
Websitecarbonhealth.com

Carbon Health is an American chain of primary healthcare and urgent care clinics[1][2][3] founded in 2015 in San Francisco that also provides telemedicine.[4][5] In February 2026, Carbon Health filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with plans to eliminate its arranged $100 million to $500 million debt.[6]

Carbon Health positions itself as a technology-first provider aiming to meet patients across virtual, in-person, and at-home settings, streamlining doctor-patient workflows and administrative processes[7]

History

Carbon Health was founded in San Francisco in 2015 by Udemy co-founder Eren Bali, engineer Tom Berry, and physician Greg Burell. It began as a software platform and mobile app for medical records, telehealth, doctor-patient messaging, and scheduling.[8] The team developed the platform by opening a private clinic that saw about 750 patients; at the time, their goal was to build software for medical practices.[9][10][11]

In 2017, Eren Bali was introduced to Dr. Caesar Djavaherian, an Iranian-American emergency medicine doctor and owner of Direct Urgent Care, a national chain of urgent care clinics.[12] Djavaherian had experienced problems with electronic health record (EHR) systems, and he decided to pilot the Carbon Health software in his clinics.[13] In 2018, Carbon Health and Direct Urgent Care merged, and Caesar Djavaherian became the company's fourth co-founder.[14][15][16] Because of this merge, Carbon Health now owned 7 brick-and-mortar clinics in the San Francisco Bay Area.[4]

In 2017, Carbon Health created a mobile app to communicate directly with doctors, and an alternative to traditional EHR systems.[13]

In 2019, Carbon Health announced a Series B round of $30 million,[17] followed by a Series B extension of $28M in early 2020 to strengthen its initiatives related to the COVID-19 pandemic.[18] Later in 2020, the company announced a $100M round led by Dragoneer Investment Group,[19] and in 2021, a $350M round led by The Blackstone Group.[12][20]

By April 2021, Carbon Health had 49 physical location medical clinics, including 19 clinics in the San Francisco Bay Area and 8 clinics in Los Angeles.[21][22] By October 2021, Carbon Health had 90 full service medical clinics, located in 14 states within the United States.[23]

In 2023, Carbon Health partnered with CVS Health to pilot a new clinic model offering primary and urgent care services within CVS retail stores. The partnership was part of a broader $100 million investment led by CVS Health's corporate venture arm. [24]

In August 2024, Carbon Health co-founder and CEO Eren Bali stepped down from his role to return to Udemy, the education company he co-founded, as Chief Technology Officer. Bali announced the move on social media, noting that Udemy held a "special place" in his heart. He will remain involved with Carbon Health as executive chairman. Chief Operating Officer Kerem Ozkay was named the new CEO.[25]

In February 2026, Carbon Health filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with plans to eliminate its arranged $100 million to $500 million debt.[26]

COVID-19

In March 2020, Carbon Health partnered with the San Francisco-based online pharmacy Alto Pharmacy to provide oral swab home test kits to patients in California. The tests were not authorized by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [27] but claimed to be authorized for distribution under an Emergency Use Authorization;[28][29] That same week, the FDA suspended the sales and distribution of home testing kits produced by Carbon Health, among others.[30][31]

In April 2020, Carbon Health released an open source, HIPAA-compliant repository of COVID-19 clinical data.[32][33]

References

  1. ^ "2021 Inc. 5000". Inc.com. Mansueto Ventures.
  2. ^ "Carbon Health: The Doctor Is Everywhere". TechCrunch. September 14, 2016. Archived from the original on 2021-01-27. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  3. ^ Etherington, Darrell (September 10, 2020). "Carbon Health to Launch 100 Pop-Up COVID-19 Testing Clinics Across US". TechCrunch. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  4. ^ a b Truong, Kevin; Dietsche, Erin (June 6, 2019). "Carbon Health pulls in $30M to become the 'Starbucks of healthcare'". Med City News. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  5. ^ Thompson, Nicholas (April 18, 2020). "Coronavirus and the Future of Telemedicine". Wired. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  6. ^ Church, Steven (2026-02-02). "Urgent-Care Provider Carbon Health Technologies Files Bankruptcy". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved 2026-02-02.
  7. ^ Stokel-Walker, Chris. "Carbon Health puts total control of doctor-patient relationship in your hands". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2025-06-23.
  8. ^ Arndt, Rachel Z. (July 31, 2017). "Carbon Health's epic plan for patient data". Modern Healthcare. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  9. ^ Loizos, Connie (March 29, 2017). "Udemy co-founder Eren Bali just raised $6.5 million for his newest startup". TechCrunch. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  10. ^ "Eren Bali, Carbon Health, on democratizing healthcare access". Soundcloud. The Pulse by Wharton Digital Health. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  11. ^ "Carbon Health: The Doctor is Everywhere". TechCrunch. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  12. ^ a b Jennings, Katie (July 21, 2021). "Meet The Immigrant Entrepreneurs Who Raised $350 Million To Rethink U.S. Primary Care". Forbes. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  13. ^ a b Stokel-Walker, Chris (July 3, 2017). "Carbon Health puts total control of doctor-patient relationship in your hands". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  14. ^ Norman, Hannah (October 30, 2018). "This health care startup is ready to take on One Medical by bringing its patient-centric platform to Bay Area clinics". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  15. ^ "Eren Bali, Carbon Health CEO: A Fortt Knox Conversation" (video). CNBC. July 22, 2001. Retrieved 16 August 2021 – via YouTube.
  16. ^ Dave, Muoio (October 30, 2018). "Carbon Health merges with Direct Urgent Care, pairs mobile patient app with physical care services". Mobi Health News. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  17. ^ Dosu, Folake (June 17, 2019). "Carbon Health raises $30 million in Series B capital to make care accessible". Built In. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  18. ^ Rinker, Brian (May 12, 2020). "Investors inject $28 million into tech-savvy S.F. health care provider to tackle Covid-19". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  19. ^ Brown, Kristen V. (November 10, 2020). "Carbon Health Raises $100 Million to Expand Clinic, Virtual Care". Bloomberg. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  20. ^ Muoio, Dave (July 21, 2021). "Carbon Health banks another $350M to become 'largest primary care provider in the U.S.'". Fierce Healthcare. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  21. ^ Draughorne, Kenan (2021-02-03). "Carbon Health Opens North Hollywood Urgent Care Clinic". North Hollywood-Toluca Lake, CA Patch. Archived from the original on 2021-02-14. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  22. ^ Rinker, Brian (2021). "Landlords court a new breed of retail medical clinic". San Francisco Business Times. Archived from the original on 2021-04-09. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  23. ^ "Carbon Health Expands National Footprint Through Acquisition of New Jersey Clinic Chain". 6Park NewsDesk, New Jersey. 2021-10-07. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  24. ^ "JPM23: Carbon Health nabs $100M, CVS Health partnership to pilot primary care in retail stores". Fierce Healthcare. Jan 9, 2023.
  25. ^ Ravindranath, Mohana (2024-08-20). "Carbon Health founder steps back from top role, Kaiser hospitals roll out AI scribe". STAT. Retrieved 2025-06-23.
  26. ^ Church, Steven (2026-02-02). "Urgent-Care Provider Carbon Health Technologies Files Bankruptcy". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved 2026-02-02.
  27. ^ Singer, Natasha (2020-03-25). "Lawmakers Question Start-Ups on At-Home Kits for Coronavirus Testing". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  28. ^ Canales, Katie (March 20, 2020). "A San Francisco startup is shipping coronavirus home test kits to sick Californians for $167". Business Insider. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  29. ^ Singer, Natasha (2020-03-24). "Start-Ups Jump the Gun on Home Kits for Coronavirus Testing". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  30. ^ Hartmans, Avery (March 24, 2020). "San Francisco startups have suspended sales of at-home coronavirus test kits after the FDA issued a warning". Business Insider. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  31. ^ Singer, Natasha (2020-03-25). "Lawmakers Question Start-Ups on At-Home Kits for Coronavirus Testing". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  32. ^ "Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Clinical Data Repository". COVID Clinical Data. Carbon Health. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  33. ^ Moosvi, Nosheen; Ismakov, Rebekkah; Noorzad, Pardis; Burell, Greg; Wu, Roger; Atluri, Haritha; Djavaherian, Caesar; Mandavia, Sujal; Bali, Eren. "Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Clinical Data Repository". Covid Clinical Data on GitHub. GitHub. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
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