# Forward (2016 – 2024)

- URL: https://girisimcikafasi.com/en/startup-graveyard/forward/
- Sector: Health
- Country: United States
- Total funding: $650 million
- Unicorn: yes, peak valuation $1 billion
- Cause of closure: Business model failed

## What did it do?

Forward was a direct-to-consumer primary care company founded in 2016 by Adrian Aoun, an entrepreneur who had worked at Google. Members paid a monthly fee for care at technology-heavy clinics. In November 2023 the company unveiled the CarePod, a booth of about eight feet by eight in which users could run blood and heart tests themselves. It planned to place them in shopping centres and gyms.

## Why did it shut down?

In 2021 Forward raised USD 225 million and, according to Reuters, was valued above USD 1 billion. In November 2023 it took a further USD 100 million for the CarePod, part of it debt. According to Maginative it had generated less than USD 100 million in revenue since its founding and failed to secure another round. ICT&Health reported that each booth cost about USD 1 million to build, that only three went live before the end, and that functions such as blood draws proved unreliable. Closing clinics to cut costs did not help. On 13 November 2024 the company announced it was shutting down with immediate effect.

## The story

Adrian Aoun founded Forward in 2016 to redesign healthcare from the ground up. The idea was to offer primary care like a technology product: smart clinics, a monthly subscription and body scanners. Backers included Eric Schmidt and Marc Benioff, and in 2021 the company's value passed USD 1 billion.

In November 2023 Forward made an even bolder move. Its CarePod booths would run tests with no doctor present and sit in shopping centres. The company raised another USD 100 million to build them.

Reality was harder. Each booth cost about USD 1 million, only three were installed and one was soon removed. The monthly fee failed to hold even affluent members. Forward closed clinics to cut costs, but the next round never came.

On 13 November 2024 the company stopped operating at once. Sources put the total raised anywhere between USD 400 million and USD 650 million. Forward became a reminder that technology does not easily replace the human relationship in healthcare.

## Lessons

- When you move to a new model, do not kill the revenue you already have. Closing clinics to back an unproven booth means trying to walk on one leg.
- In medicine, reliability is as much the product as the experience. Do not put a device in a shopping centre until its blood draw works consistently.
- With a subscription, the question is not whether people will try it once but whether they will keep paying each month. Measure retention before you scale a premium fee.

## Sources

- [Former Googler Adrian Aoun raises $100 million for walk-in SI healthcare pods](https://fortune.com/2023/11/15/forward-startup-adrian-aoun-100-million-funding-carepod-khosla-softbank/)
- [Does Forward Health's failure mark the winter of telehealth?](https://www.icthealth.org/news/does-forward-healths-failure-mark-the-winter-of-telehealth)
- [SI Healthcare Startup Forward Shuts Down](https://www.maginative.com/article/ai-healthcare-startup-forward-shuts-down/)