What You Should Know:
– Plume, a provider of virtual care services purposefully designed for the health care needs of the transgender community raises $24M in Series B funding led by led by Transformation Capital with participation from General Catalyst and Townhall Ventures.
– Plume plans to use the latest round of funding to fulfill its mission to transform health care for every trans life by creating access to high-quality, safe gender-affirming care.
Expanding Gender-Affirming Care Nationwide
Founded in 2019 by physicians Jerrica Kirkley and Matthew Wetschler, Plume is a comprehensive, virtual care provider built by and for the healthcare needs of the transgender community. The company seeks to radically increase access to care, medication, and products for the trans community, supporting a bold, authentic, and healthy lifestyle. Its vision is to make gender-affirming care available to anyone, anywhere until it transforms health care for every trans life.
As the world’s leading virtual care provider for gender-affirming care, Plume will use these resources to expand coverage nationwide and into virtual primary care, ensure Plume is covered by insurance, and provide support that trans and gender diverse people and their families deserve.
Plume Services & Pricing: How It Works
Plume provides gender-affirming care directly from your smartphone. Plume’s experienced healthcare providers understand the unique needs of the trans community. Members pay $99 a month and receive 24/7 access to gender-affirming care, personal consultations, lab testing, facilitated support groups, medical letters of support for surgery and name and gender marker changes, and home delivery of prescriptions and gender-affirming medication as medically appropriate. Plume eliminates these barriers by making gender-affirming care accessible for anyone who needs it without ever having to step into a doctor’s office.
Growing Need for Digital Health in Trans Community
The visibility of the trans community is growing at an exponential rate as younger generations more readily openly identify as trans and gender diverse. Gen Z identifies as trans at nearly four times the rate of baby boomers and is statistically the queerest generation in history. Trans individuals have unique medical, legal, and socio-emotional needs distinct from those of the broader cisgender LGBQ+ population that are commonly unmet by the status quo. Plume is the only digital-health company entirely dedicated to services for trans and gender-diverse individuals and their families and is uncompromisingly focused on providing the best care experience available.
“As a trans woman and physician, I started Plume to offer a supportive space for trans Americans as they navigate our nation’s broken health care system,” said Dr. Jerrica Kirkley, Plume’s Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer. “With today’s announcement, we are on track to reach our goal of increasing access to high-quality, gender-affirming care to patients across the U.S. in both urban areas and coverage deserts. Knowing the hurdles trans Americans face when accessing care, I’m encouraged to reach this benchmark and I look forward to Plume’s growth in the future.”
