September 21, 2022 :- Scratchpay, the Pasadena, California founded petcare financier turned healthcare financier, completed a new round of funding amounting to $35 million.
It’s a cue that investors are still looking at developing the fintech scene despite the markets’ downturn and a declaration from investors that there is a downshift in investments.
Scratchpay gained $35 million in a Series C round led by Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from Alumni Ventures, Struck Capital, Companion Fund, SWS Venture Capital, and TTV Capital, among others. The company has boosted more than $108 million in financing since its 2016 birth, and the company last boosted a Series B round of $65 million.
The business has been focused on its recent endeavor of developing its finance services from veterinary care to include human healthcare. Scratchpay supplies financing services across dental, optometry, and other healthcare arenas, and veterinary care and human healthcare are combined in one larger category.
The round’s funds will be utilized to “accelerate the development of new technology to support medical providers better connect with their clients and handle the end-to-end patient experience,” as per Scratchpay founder John Keatley.
“In complement to payment processing and financing, we now have a lot of customers that are asking for and demanding additional services,” Keatley conveyed TechCrunch in an interview. “We’re already combined into their core patient health record systems, and they’re requesting us to do things like deliver digital invoices, or deliver appointment reminders and other sorts of communication style services.”
In Keatley’s discussion with TechCrunch, he also teased the idea the company would ultimately expand to include car financing. The founder stated, though, veterinary care is still the number one sector employed most by its users.
Scratchpay says it varies from competitor Care Credit in that it provides approval for a single dollar amount as objected to setting a credit limit. Interest rates for compensation can go as high as the mid-20%.
Organizations like Klarna and Affirm equip a buy now, pay later system, but Keatley told Scratchpay as a “care now, pay later” firm that similarly pursues the BNPL model. Although they allow somebody to purchase services first and pay it back gradually, Keatley spoke the services offered are assisting the user with their needs instead of allowing them to buy a want.
“This is about supporting people get the goods and services that they require to live healthy lives,” he stated.
By the year end, Scratchpay is anticipated to have processed over $1 billion in patient — human and nonhuman — payments across all its sectors in over 10,000 practices.
Ryan McDonald, principal at Norwest Venture Partners, said in a written statement: “Scratch is well positioned to lead the market by simplifying the patient experience and streamlining veterinary and medical practice needs through a platform that integrates payments, care financing and intuitive SaaS tools.”