Morning after pill delivery service Midnight Health attracts $12m investment from nib
A young Brisbane entrepreneur’s health-tech startup has attracted a $12m injection from insurance giant nib amid rising interest in tele-medicine and other services.
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Brisbane serial entrepreneur Nic Blair is on a roll, with his health-tech startup Midnight Health attracting a $12m investment from insurance giant nib.
The cash injection is nib’s second investment in the digital healthcare platform giving the startup a valuation approaching $50m. Last November, the insurer kicked in $4m.
Midnight Health, founded by 36-year-old Blair and Matt Anderson last year, already has more than 30,000 customers who can access a range of services including telehealth consultations, home delivered prescription medicines, skin care treatments and birth control.
Midnight Health, which operates under a number of brands including Youly and men’s health platform Stagger, attracted national headlines when it offered an emergency delivery service for the morning after contraceptive pill.
Blair tells your diarist that the recent pandemic had accelerated the adoption of e-health platforms particularly online consultations.
“We probably had about 10 years worth of technological adoption during the pandemic,” he says. Blair says the aim is to improve access to healthcare nationally, particularly in remote and regional areas where coverage can be poor.
Midnight Health operates through a network of 46 doctors, pharmacies and health care practitioners, providing services to more than half of Australia’s postcodes including the remote Kiwirrkurra community in Western Australia, 800km from the nearest big town.
“We have been able to deliver health services to some really remote parts of Australia that suffer from a dire lack of access to GPs,” Blair says. “People living in regional areas may wait weeks for an appointment with a GP. Our telehealth services provide that access.”
Blair says Midnight Health, which employs 39 people in its Brisbane office, aims to have half a million clients within the next couple of years.
Brissie’s Golden Era
Brisbane business leaders are not waiting for the Olympics to throw the global spotlight on the city. Corporate and community heavy weights including Queensland Ballet director Li Cunxin, ASM Global boss Harvey Lister, jewellery designer Margot McKinney and VALD co-founder Sam James are backing a new initiative to sell Brisbane on the world stage.
The idea is to ultimately attract multi-million-dollar investment, business opportunities and major events for the future. The Brisbane Brief has been developed by Brisbane Economic Development Agency (BEDA), in consultation with over 150 local industry leaders, highlighting the city’s unique strengths, to support local businesses, industry and global partners on international trade missions and investment pitches.
The document showcases a city that’s “alive with opportunity”, with a fast-growing population, a $14 billion infrastructure pipeline, direct access to Asian export markets and natural assets and liveability attracting record levels of migration. Business leaders will star in a video being developed as part of the toolkit.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said there has never been a greater opportunity to supercharge Brisbane’s economic growth as the city enters what he calls a “golden era”.
Stadiums Rock
A shout out to Harvey Lister’s ASM Global with four of the convention operator’s venues named as some of the region’s top venues.
Named in Pollstar’s top five Australia and New Zealand arenas this year in terms of total ticket revenue were Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Newcastle Entertainment Centre, RAC Arena Perth and our very own Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
In the theatres category, ASM’s Aware Super Theatre in Sydney was ranked number one with Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre and Cairns Convention Centre placed in the Top 20.
Lister says that having four of the group’s Australasian convention venues ranked so highly was credit to the efforts of workers, especially during the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
“These results prove that in times of uncertainty artists, promoters and audiences seek support from their trusted loyal partners,” says Lister.
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