Walnut closed on this Series A funding less than a year after launching.

Yash Joshi, CTO, (left) and Roshan Patel, CEO, (right) founded Walnut in 2020 to make healthcare more affordable for patients by breaking up large medical bills into small, monthly payments without fees or interest. The startup fintech announced its $110 million Series A led by Gradient Ventures with strong participation from new and existing investors including Newark Ventures, Afore Capital, 2048 Ventures, CityRock Ventures, AngelList, Weekend Fund, Company Ventures, Banana Capital, Goodwater Capital, and Muse Capital. Founders and executives from Teachable, Clearbit, and Afterpay also participated. (Walnut)

Walnut: $110 million Series A

The round comprises $10 million in equity financing and $100 million in debt financing, the latter being provided by Clear Haven Capital.

The company’s financing product is akin to the “buy-now-pay-later” (BNPL) offering from other fintechs for consumer, appliances and fashion goods.

Walnut’s “BNPL for healthcare” helps patients afford care whenever they incur out-of-pocket costs by enabling them to spread costs over time without incurring fees or interest charges. By removing the price and affordability hurdle for patients, Walnut helps healthcare providers capture more revenue.

The fintech’s financing coverage includes the specialities of behavioral health, dermatology, orthodontics, cosmetic surgery, orthodontics, fertility, and primary care. Payment is easy because Walnut is integrated and embedded into many healthcare providers’ checkout process, in both online and offline modes.

The company’s approval process is based on a machine learning algorithm that considers thousands of data points on each patient in real-time. We are “able to approve patients that others are overlooking,” it says.

Use of funds

The fintech will use the Series A funds to triple its 15-strong team by the end of 2022; invest in product development; and enhance its partnerships with insurance companies, employers, EHR systems, billing platforms, and other stakeholders in healthcare to accelerate its adoption across the healthcare ecosystem.

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Image credit: Walnut