H1, a healthcare data analytics platform serving the pharmaceutical industry with data on over 10 million healthcare professionals, has acquired Ribbon, a startup that helps patients find doctors that are supported by their insurance.
Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. The last time that Ribbon — founded in 2016 and a Y Combinator alum — raised money was in 2021, when it closed a $43.5 million Series B that valued it at $283.5 million, per PitchBook data.
Many startups that haven’t secured funding in over three years are increasingly facing pressure, with many becoming acquisition targets or facing imminent closure. But Arial Katz, co-founder and CEO of H1, told TechCrunch that Ribbon “was not a company that was running out of business.” H1 is paying a combination of stock and cash to acquire Ribbon, which is earning “well over tens of millions in revenue,” he added.
Ribbon had raised $55 million overall from investors that include Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst and Rock Health.
For its part, H1 has raised around $200 million and was last valued around $773 million in 2022. PitchBook notes it also raised an undisclosed amount in 2024.
H1 had its sights on combining with Ribbon for years, Katz told TechCrunch. The two companies collect similar information but serve different client sets, he said.
“I’ve been trying to buy Ribbon for three years,” Katz said, adding that the two companies have many synergies because they collect similar data.
Ribbon serves patients by providing details about doctors’ expertise, cost and quality. Ribbon’s data is purchased by healthcare navigation companies like Transcarent and Rightway and then is made available to patients through health insurance sites. H1 meanwhile tends to work with pharmaceutical and other companies in the healthcare business providing data and other insights to help them, for example, set up and run clinical trials.
Although Ribbon was likely not a fire sale, we expect to see many startups this year struggling to raise follow-on funding and reaching the end of their runways. They’ll become acquisition targets, if they don’t shut down altogether.
