Roon, a new platform offering video-based medical information, is tackling the challenges of accessing accurate healthcare content online. On Tuesday, Roon announced that it had raised $15 million at a $68 million valuation. Backers include Forerunner Ventures and FirstMark, alongside previous supporters like Sequoia Capital.
The idea was born out of a deeply personal experience for Vikram Bhaskaran, Roon’s co-founder and CEO, who previously led teams across product, marketing, and sales at Pinterest.
When Bhaskaran’s father was diagnosed with ALS, he found himself searching endlessly online for clear, reliable information. “It turned my world upside down,” Bhaskaran said. Despite his experience in Silicon Valley, he found the health information landscape outdated. “When it came to health, I felt it was like the dark ages,” he said in an interview with TechCrunch.
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During the pandemic, Bhaskaran joined forces with two close friends: Arun Ranganathan, a former Head of Partner Engineering at Pinterest who now serves as Roon’s CTO, and Dr. Rohan Ramakrishna, a neurosurgeon and professor at Weill Cornell Medicine, now Roon’s CMO. Together, they envisioned a platform that provides clinically accurate information in an accessible format.
Roon sets itself apart from traditional health sites like WebMD and Healthline by offering video-based Q&As from doctors at top institutions. Dr. Ramakrishna explained the motivation behind the concept: “Doctors own in their brains billions of bits of privileged information that they share with you in the clinic, but it doesn’t really scale outside of their own medical practice.”
The platform allows physicians to scale their expertise, answering common patient questions through videos.
Currently, Roon hosts over 16,000 videos on conditions such as ALS, glioblastoma, PCOS, and fertility issues. Expansion plans include topics in women’s health, pediatrics, and metabolic disorders. Patients benefit from hearing advice not only from doctors but also from others managing similar conditions.
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Bhaskaran likens Roon to a “creator platform for doctors,” reminiscent of his time at Pinterest. The platform offers honoraria to participating doctors, though many decline due to conflict-of-interest policies. For physicians, Roon is less about profit and more about saving time and improving patient care by supplementing appointments with pre- or post-visit videos.
Forerunner Ventures’ managing partner Eurie Kim, who cared for her mother during a decade-long cancer battle, resonated with Roon’s mission. “You don’t have a lot of time with your surgeon or your doctor, and so when they say, ‘Do you have any questions for me,’ you panic,” Kim said.
While Roon has yet to generate revenue, potential monetization strategies include subscriptions for hospitals, ads, or even a doctor directory. “You got to start with the content, you got to start with the trust, the right information, and then grow from there,” Kim said.