The company announced on Thursday that a Seattle-based e-commerce platform designed to reduce costs and eliminate middlemen in the procurement of medical supplies has raised $5 million.
Since its establishment in March this year, Btn. (Pronounced “button”), has sold more than $1 million in products to more than 400 medical institutions, including 17 health care associations. The company’s website provides a set of products to fight COVID-19, including masks, respirators and other PPE (personal protective equipment).
“In this highly chaotic market, the cost, availability, and timeliness of supply are the primary considerations of all healthcare providers,” JT GarwoodCEO and co-founder of bttn.in a Press release“We are digitizing procurement to improve cost-effectiveness, efficiency and predictability,” added Garwood, a former senior account executive at Microsoft. He co-founded the company with software engineer Jack Miller. Garwood and Miller are also the co-founders of PPE.Exchange, which is an online marketplace for PPE and other medical supplies, launched in March 2020.
During the pandemic, many smaller suppliers (such as doctors’ offices) paid full retail prices for supplies from sources such as Amazon. Larger organizations rely on contracts with larger purchasing organizations, and some supplies such as respirators are in alarming shortages. According to Bttn, in the long run, such contracts are cumbersome, inefficient and will increase costs.
“We have established a company that enables doctors, dentists, veterinarians, senior living centers, and hospitals to purchase medical supplies directly from suppliers. Prices, inventory discovery, and shipping schedules are all in the order,” Garwood said in an email Said in. Btn. It also reviews medical supplies and provides customers with online and face-to-face support. “This is a customer-centric e-commerce platform that allows buyers to control everything.”
This start-up company is expanding beyond PPE and is focusing on a broader market. Large hospitals spend 3-20 million US dollars on medical supplies in each hospital each year. According to the company’s website, this is equivalent to more than $230 million in medical supplies spent on hospitals in the United States each year. The company’s goal is to save 20% to 40% of the cost of medical supplies.
FUSE, a Seattle-based venture capital firm, provided new funding, which is an extension of the $1.5 million seed round in June this year. Btn. The funds will be used to strengthen its sales, technology and operations, and to increase the number of recruits from the current 13 software developers, supply chain experts, sales, business development and e-commerce experts. With new funding, the company’s valuation is $26.5 million.