Doximity CEO Jeff Tangney rings the opening bell as the company’s stock begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Doximity’s stock doubled on Thursday, its first day of trading.
Medical social networking site Doximity’s stock nearly doubled in its first day of trading on Thursday, valuing the company at $9.4 billion. Priced at $26 per share, the company’s stock was trading above $53 by the end of the day.
Doximity, which calls itself the “LinkedIn for doctors,” had been growing at a rapid pace leading up to this moment. While it has drummed up 1.8 million members, the company brings in most of its money from firms looking to recruit physicians or pharmaceutical companies looking to promote their treatments.
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Its revenue has been increasing by double digits, bringing in $206.9 million for its most recent fiscal year up 78% year-over-year. Its net income of $50.2 million was also up 69%. But the company has mostly kept quiet, not raising any VC money since 2014.
As Doximity touts that 80% of doctors are its users, how will it keep up the pace of growth? In an interview with MedCity News, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Dr. Nate Gross shared some of Doximity’s plans going forward:
Doximity’s plans for telehealth:
Before the pandemic, Doximity had a popular feature for physicians to be able to call patients from their cell phones. Last year, it added the ability for doctors to make secure video calls with a link texted to patients.
In the last quarter, 300,000 clinicians conducted video visits on the platform. Doximity has also drummed up some paid subscribers for the feature, including more than 150 health systems as of March
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“That’s something that we think shows there’s a real need for this sort of product,” Gross said.
Doximity has some additional features planned for its telehealth visits, including the ability to add an interpreter, as well as educational tools, such as pulling up an image of an anatomical heart to help explain a condition to a patient.
“We see a lot of opportunity and room to grow here,” he said.
How Doximity plans to grow its user base:
Given that Doximity already has a large number of doctors among its current users, growth becomes more challenging. Gross pointed to the fact that most graduating medical students are members of Doximity, and the social network has an opportunity to expand to other medical professions, such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
In its prospectus, the company also mentioned opportunities to work with physical therapists, dentists, psychologists and other specialists.
Why the company reserved some shares for physicians:
As part of its IPO, Doximity made an unusual move: It reserved about 15% of its shares for its physician users.
So far, many of them seemed to have taken advantage of the offer. More than 10,000 physicians participated in the offering, Gross said.
“Our hope is to become the most physician-owned health technology company,” he added.
On the competition:
In its prospectus, Doximity lists other social networks, such as LinkedIn and Facebook, as competitors. Gross said the company differentiates itself with its telehealth tools and verification process to ensure physicians have the credentials and license that they claim.
“When you think about consumer platforms, that’s not something they have the ability to do,” he said.
In many cases, what Doximity is replacing is analog tools, such as calling a hospital operator to get a hold of a physician, or billboards and brochures for advertisers.
“A lot of what we compete with is this historic analog world that medicine has been in for the last couple of decades,” he said.
