The archive · Health & Care · Product decision · 2016–2024
Forward's AI clinic bet: $1B valuation, 5 CarePods, then a 2024 shutdown
Forward raised $600M+ to replace the doctor's office with AI clinics and self-serve CarePods, hit a $1B valuation, then shut down abruptly in November 2024.
Forward Health
What the business is
Cash-pay, tech-enabled primary care: membership clinics in 19 locations backed by custom software, biometric scanners and AI 'CarePods' self-serve kiosks.
Starting capital：Reportedly more than $600M, including a $225M Series D (2021) and $100M Series E (2023)
How it started
Founded in 2016 by Adrian Aoun, a former Google/Alphabet special-projects lead who had built Sidewalk Labs and the acquired AI startup Wavii, Forward opened tech-enabled, cash-pay primary care clinics that did not bill insurance. It reached a $1B valuation in 2021 after a $225M Series D backed by Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures and SoftBank, plus Marc Benioff and The Weeknd.
What happened
In November 2023 Forward raised a $100M Series E and launched CarePods, AI self-serve kiosks meant to screen and diagnose conditions in malls, gyms and offices, announcing plans to install 3,200 a year. Only about five were ever deployed. Forward had not opened a new clinic in its final year and closed at least two; critics said it invested too much in custom hardware and expensive city real estate and not enough in the human side of care.
How it ended up
On November 12–13, 2024, Forward abruptly announced on its website that it was closing all locations, canceling scheduled visits and disabling its app; nearly all of its roughly 200 employees lost their jobs. Founder and CEO Adrian Aoun said a funding round had been on the table but would not 'get the company to the other side,' so Forward decided to unwind and told employees within four hours of the decision.
Background
Forward was founded in 2016 by Adrian Aoun, a former Google/Alphabet executive who had built Sidewalk Labs, as a tech-enabled, cash-pay primary care business with no insurance billing. It grew to 19 locations and more than 100 clinicians, and reached a $1B valuation in 2021 after a $225M Series D backed by Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, SoftBank, Marc Benioff and The Weeknd.
In November 2023 the company raised a $100M Series E and rolled out Forward CarePods — AI self-serve kiosks designed to screen and diagnose conditions in malls, gyms and offices — announcing plans to install 3,200 a year. Only about five were ever deployed. By the end, Forward had not opened a new clinic in a year and had closed at least two, while critics argued it spent too much on custom hardware and expensive real estate and too little on patient care.
On November 12–13, 2024, Forward abruptly posted on its website that it was closing all locations, canceling scheduled visits and disabling its app, telling patients its medical team would support them by email only until December 13. Nearly all of its roughly 200 employees lost their jobs. Aoun said a funding round had been on the table but would not get the company through the market downturn, so Forward made the 'terrible, yet responsible decision' to unwind.
What has to be true
- The bet was that technology could replace scarce human primary care at scale, but each clinic and CarePod needed heavy capital for real estate, hardware and software before revenue caught up.
- The $100M Series E and CarePod rollout in 2023 came as growth-stage funding was already freezing, and Forward's 'novel, unproven' kiosk product was a hard sell to conservative investors.
- CarePods underdelivered — about five installed against a 3,200-a-year plan — so the kiosk bet produced cost without the promised scale.
- As a cash-pay business outside the insurance system, Forward could not capture the 70% of healthcare spending that flows through insurers, leaving its model dependent on premium membership fees.
What can be applied
A novel, unproven healthcare product is a capital bet: when growth funding froze, expensive custom tech and cash-pay clinics with no insurance economics left Forward no bridge to the other side.
Aftermath
After the announcement, Forward's app went dark and patients were directed to an email address for records and prescriptions until December 13, 2024; some patients posted that they still could not reach their medical records. Aoun told the More or Less podcast that the available funding round would not carry the company through the downturn, that he felt a moral obligation to tell employees quickly, and that investors and former staff wanted him to start again immediately — a new venture, but not CarePods. All Forward clinics closed and its roughly 200 employees were laid off.
Sources
- Primary care player Forward shutters after raising $400M, rolling out CarePods
- Forward Closes Up Shop After Well-Funded Push Into Primary Care
- Forward founder says he's launching new venture after winding down primary care startup
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