The American healthcare system is witnessing an alarming erosion of primary care relationships, with visits down 30% in the commercial population and only 8% of patients maintaining consistent care with the same provider over three years. This deterioration of the trusted patient-provider relationship has left 70% of people willing to switch providers in search of better services, particularly among the commercial population aged 28-60. Aligned Marketplace is addressing this crisis through its revolutionary advanced primary care marketplace that connects self-insured employers with over 3,000 clinics nationwide. Unlike traditional 11-minute rushed appointments, their network delivers comprehensive 40-minute visits and coordinated care teams that restore the crucial doctor-patient relationship. Their platform seamlessly integrates value-based payment models with patient-centered care delivery, resulting in up to 15% reduction in total medical costs while improving health outcomes. Through partnerships with leading providers like CirrusMD, Galileo, and Summer Health, they’re making relationship-based, high-access, coordinated care available to more than 80% of the U.S. population.
AlleyWatch sat down with Aligned Marketplace CEO and Founder Patrick Nelli to learn more about the business, its strategic partnerships, and recent extension round.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
We recently raised an additional $3M in seed funding, bringing our total to $11M since we launched in 2023. This investment was co-led by our existing lead investors, A* and Maverick Ventures, who have shown strong belief in the growing demand for advanced primary care.
Tell us about the product or service that Aligned Marketplace offers.
Aligned Marketplace is a national advanced primary care marketplace designed for self-insured employers. We provide access to a network of over 3,000 advanced primary care clinics across all 50 states, offering holistic, patient-centered care that improves member outcomes and experiences while reducing healthcare costs.
What inspired the start of Aligned Marketplace?
I’ve always had a passion to help people live healthier lives. After starting my career in drug research, I then went into PE and funding healthcare investments. For nearly a decade leading up to launching Aligned Marketplace, I held various leadership roles at Health Catalyst where I played a part in helping to drive our mission around using data and analytics. I always wanted to start my own company, and my previous experiences really set me up well for my work with Aligned Marketplace.
How is Aligned Marketplace different?
Advanced primary care has proven total cost of care savings, but has been challenging for geographically dispersed employers to purchase. In recognizing this problem, we built a national marketplace of the best clinic-based, virtual-first, and population-specific providers, such as Amazon OneMedical, Marathon, Galileo, Knownwell, and many, many others. Our shared savings economic model allows employers to offer care at no incremental cost compared to traditional primary care, while also improving outcomes and reducing overall healthcare spend.
What market does Aligned Marketplace target and how big is it?
We work with self-insured employers across the United States. As healthcare costs continue to rise, employers are increasingly looking for innovative solutions to provide affordable, high-quality care for their dispersed employee populations. We have a national footprint for employers and provide access in all 50 states, with 3,000 clinics located within driving distance of >80% of the U.S. population.
What’s your business model?
Our national marketplace includes the best and highest quality of advanced primary care groups. We’ve standardized the contracting across these groups and tied a large portion of these payments to delivering high quality care for employers. In doing so, we wanted to create an ‘easy button’ for employers to adopt this model.
How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
With healthcare costs projected to rise in 2025, employers are looking for ways to control their healthcare spend. Our model helps reduce costs through advanced primary care, which has been proven to lower total medical expenses.
What was the funding process like?
The funding process has been extremely rewarding. A* and Maverick Ventures have been strong supporters of our vision of building a marketplace for advanced primary care. Their belief in the model and our mission to make healthcare more accessible and cost-effective played a big role in the success of the seed funding rounds.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
A challenge was finding investors that could add strategic value to our early growth days. We are extremely fortunate to have found that in our seed investors.
A challenge was finding investors that could add strategic value to our early growth days. We are extremely fortunate to have found that in our seed investors.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Our investors saw three key factors: strong leadership with deep market insight, a unique marketplace model that aligns incentives across employees, employers, and providers, and the potential to improve healthcare quality and costs for over 100 million Americans. With employer healthcare spending nearing $1 trillion and legacy solutions falling short, they view Aligned Marketplace as a win-win solution in the employer benefits space.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
In the next six months we’re looking forward to expanding our employer partnerships and national marketplace of advanced primary care groups, as well as adding new hires to capitalize on our growth and momentum.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Focus on building strong partnerships, be resourceful, and make sure your product addresses a real pain point for your target market. For healthcare companies, demonstrating measurable cost savings and improved outcomes is key to gaining trust and support.
What’s your favorite winter destination in and around the city?
Nothing beats the holiday spirit of the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular – it’s a family favorite and always a memorable experience.
