Sword Health Raises $163M and Reaches $2B Valuation as the Fastest-Growing Digital MSK Company
The first virtual musculoskeletal company to reduce costs while delivering superior clinical outcomes, has achieved a 20x valuation growth in 12 months with an unmatched 12x client growth.
Sword Health, the most clinical and comprehensive digital musculoskeletal (MSK) solution in the market, today announced its Series D funding round led by Sapphire Ventures, a leading global technology-focused venture capital firm with participation from new investors Sozo Ventures, Willoughby Capital, ADQ and Localglobe, and from all major investors including General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Bond, Transformation Capital, and Green Innovations. This brings the total primary and secondary transactions to more than $320M invested in SWORD, with the current round valued at $1.8B, catapulting it to healthtech unicorn status. The primary funding round of $163M was heavily oversubscribed, resulting in investors purchasing an additional $26M, in a secondary transaction which propelled the valuation to $2B.
“Sword Health’s approach to resolving MSK disorders is truly differentiated. Their unique PT + Digital Therapist model which includes an FDA listed device has gained significant market acceptance evidenced by their 12x customer growth,” said Rajeev Dham, Partner at Sapphire Ventures. “Through our market and customer work, we found that SWORD is providing tangible clinical outcomes to drive healthier, happier lives for individuals, and meaningful cost-savings for customers—a winning approach. Most of all, we are thrilled to partner with Virgilio, one of the hardest working and passionate founders we’ve encountered.”
The round will enable Sword to accelerate its mission to free two billion people from physical pain through more personalized MSK based offerings—from prevention to post-surgical care—while still remaining at the forefront of value-based digital MSK care and expanding local and global operations among self-insured employers, health plans and other entities.
“I started Sword after a traumatic personal experience where I saw first-hand the challenges that families face when they have to recover a loved one,” shared Virgilio Bento, founder and CEO of Sword Health. “It’s been truly humbling to see the impact Sword is having on thousands of members across the globe. With this new funding, we will accelerate our value creation for members, self-insured employers and health plans, as we continue to build the flagship digital MSK solution in the healthcare world, everywhere and for everyone.”
Sword recently launched the most complete end-to-end clinical solution—Sword+—with three groundbreaking features. First, ASK a PT™ is a 24/7 solution connecting members with physical therapists to answer general questions about physical pain. Second, Digital Guardian™ has a wearable component which monitors and corrects unsafe movements to prevent workplace injury, and, finally, The Academy which is a unique blend of Masterclass and customized educational content. This, along with its existing hallmark solution, the Digital Therapist™, has established SWORD as the most innovative and personalized digital MSK program today.
"It is exciting and important to see the growth in Sword, since their mission to free people from musculoskeletal pain aligns with our goal to help our employees through what are often debilitating conditions," said Amy Broghammer, Health and Welfare Benefits Manager at Danaher. "Their expanded product offerings will provide even deeper support, further reaffirming why we selected Sword through our stringent vendor evaluation to find the very best MSK solution."
Sword Health has experienced exponential growth over the last 18 months. Three out of four employers that conducted head-to-head evaluations among MSK solutions have selected Sword. They have cited a variety of reasons: 100% of its services are provided by Doctors of Physical Therapy (DPT), an FDA-listed device that provides clinical data to DPTs to personalize the member journey, and third-party validation for both clinical results and savings.
ABOUT SWORD HEALTH
Sword Health, the world’s fastest growing virtual musculoskeletal (MSK) care provider, is on a mission to free two billion people from physical pain. It delivers 100% of care to members through Doctors of Physical Therapy and the FDA-listed Sword Health Digital Therapist. Sword’s personalized care is more effective and less expensive than the traditional gold standard of care, and has been third-party validated to deliver best-in-class clinical results. With the preventative care delivered through Sword+, it is the industry’s only end-to-end digital MSK solution. Since launching in 2015, Sword Health has worked with insurers, health systems, and employers in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia to make high quality musculoskeletal care accessible to everyone.
ABOUT SAPPHIRE VENTURES
Sapphire is a leading global technology-focused venture capital firm with more than $6.8 billion in AUM with team members across Austin, London, New York, Palo Alto and San Francisco. For more than two decades, Sapphire has partnered with visionary management teams and venture funds to help scale companies of consequence. Since its founding, Sapphire has invested in more than 165 companies globally resulting in 29 IPOs and 45 acquisitions. The firm’s investment strategies — Sapphire Ventures, Sapphire Partners and Sapphire Sport — are focused on scaling companies and venture funds, elevating them to become category leaders. Sapphire’s Portfolio Growth team of experienced operators delivers a strategic blend of value-add services, tools and resources designed to support portfolio company leaders as they scale. To learn more about Sapphire, visit: https://sapphireventures.com
