Watsi operates a crowdfunding platform that channels 100% of patient donations to pay for medical procedures and maintains a structured electronic medical record system for partner hospitals. The platform profiles patients and hospitals to enable ongoing due diligence and outcome tracking, including metrics like 30‑day readmission. Watsi has supported over 5,000 patients in 20 countries and aims to reach 1 million patients by 2020. The organization plans to hire engineers to improve donor experience and build a social giving product and a licensable platform. Revenues from licensing the donation platform are intended to cover future operational costs and reduce the need for philanthropic operational rounds. The current $3.5M donation is explicitly intended to fund operations and platform development so Watsi can focus future fundraising on patient donations. Watsi is a San Francisco, CA-based global crowdfunding platform for healthcare that enables users to donate as little as $5 to directly fund life-changing medical care for people in need. The company raised $1.2M in funding. Backers included Paul Graham, Tencent, Y Combinator, Ron Conway, Vinod Khosla, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, Joe Greenstein, Eric Wu, Geoff Ralston, Uprising, Jasmine Social Investments, InnoSpring/TEEC Angel Fund and Michael Sidgmore. The company intends to use the funds to support operations. It is Y Combinator-backed. The team leadership cited in the article includes Chase Adam (Vision), Jesse Cooke (Tech), Grace Garey (Marketing) and Howard Glenn (Partnerships). Watsi is a nonprofit crowdfunding platform that lets donors directly fund low-cost, high-impact medical treatments using a Kickstarter-like model. Donors can give as little as $5 and connect personally with beneficiaries via individual profiles that describe each person’s condition and needs. The organization works with doctors, providers and payors to secure donated time, materials and equipment to reduce overhead and leverage lower procedure costs abroad. Watsi.org funds operational costs separately and the site pays credit-card processing fees so that 100% of crowd donations go to patient treatments. Early traction includes 75 treatments funded, about $60,000 raised for patients from 1,300 donations, operations in eight countries, 20% of donors returning for a second gift, 30% of giving from outside the U.S., and roughly 28% average week-over-week growth. Y Combinator’s backing and public endorsements from figures like Paul Graham and a philanthropic contribution from Ron Conway provide validation and support for scaling.

Total raised

$5M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Nov 2015