Telehealth startup Coviu raises $6 million after explosive pandemic growth

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Telehealth startup Coviu raises $6 million after explosive pandemic growth

Simon Thomsen - December 7, 2020 < 1 MIN READ

Coviu co-founder Dr Silvia Pfeiffer

Telehealth venture Coviu has raised $6 million in the wake of the company’s growth during the coronavirus pandemic.

The round was backed by Equity Venture Partners, with investment director Daniel Szekely joining the board, alongside the Giant Leap Fund from Impact Investments, the CSIRO’s VC fund, Main Sequence Ventures and the Medical Angels investment group.

Coviu was spun out of the CSIRO in 2018 and last month CEO and co-founder Dr Silvia Pfeiffer was named Founder of Year at the 2020 Women in Digital National Awards.

The company saw rapid growth during the pandemic and health practitioners move to telehealth, leaping from 400 calls a day to a peak of 25,000 daily. The transformation of the business was so dramatic that in a week, website visits rose by 10,000% and from when the pandemic hit in March, Coviu’s team has grown from seven people to 30.

Simon Thomsen

Simon has been editor of Startup Daily since 2019.

He hosted the Startup Daily show on streaming service ausbiz.com.au from 2020 to 2023.

He was previously associate editor of Business Insider Australia, a national restaurant critic, editor of The Good Food Guide, and newspaper proprietor during a 30-year career in journalism and publishing.

He's also an investor in early stage startups.

Simon chaired the environment committee of industry lobby group Australian Business Ltd's (now NSW Business Chamber) during the Kyoto agreement era, debating cow farts with mining execs.