In 2023, the US spent $4.9T on healthcare, around 17.6% of its GDP. This makes the US healthcare system by a large margin the most expensive in the world, yet it has the worst outcomes.
US life expectancy is around 78.4 years, comparable to Colombia despite the country spending just half as much of its GDP on healthcare as the US!
It is clear that healthcare is a gigantic and crucial industry with severe issues. Any company that comes up with innovative solutions to reduce costs and improve outcomes could make significant profits.
This is what Hims and Hers aims to do!
Hims and Hers is a digital direct-to-consumer telemedicine and wellness company aiming "To help the world feel great through the power of better health."
In the last 6 years, the company has seen the demand for its services explode, with revenue growing by 5,434% to $1.48B. As Hims transitioned from a money-losing startup to a $6B market cap, profitable enterprise, its stock rose 218% in 2024!
Understandably, such performance has made the company a favorite of the retail investor community, however, Hims has also become a passionate target for short sellers and skeptics.
In this Deep Dive, I am going to take a full look at the company!
Part 1 will explore Hims and Hers Story, Business Model, GLP1 Shortage and Subscriber Statistics!
1. The Story of Hims and Hers
2. Business Model
3. GLP1 Shortage
4. Subscriber Statistics
5. Parts 2 and 3
1. The Story of Hims and Hers
Hims and Hers was founded in 2017 in San Francisco, California by the current CEO, Andrew Dudum, and a few partners.
The founders originally created Hims to address and destigmatize sensitive health issues, particularly those often overlooked or considered taboo. Sex health and hair loss were the first conditions tackled, since then the company has expanded to treat other conditions.
Hims is a subscription-based, direct-to-consumer, digital-first healthcare company!
Instead of calling clinics to make physical appointments, the company enables patients to seek help from licensed medical professionals through its digital platform.
All of us have had to visit a medical professional. While the process varies a lot by a person’s country of residence and income, the general principles are similar.
Call a clinic to make an appointment with a general practitioner. Choose from the available time slots a slot that best suits one’s schedule, sometimes the same day, other times after a few days, or even a week. Visit the clinic, speak with the GP, get prescribed medication, and go to the pharmacy to purchase it and deal with the insurance for rebates. If the condition requires visiting a professional such as a dermatologist, or cardiologist, one must make a new call to schedule an appointment weeks or even months in advance.
There is just so much complexity in this whole system that wastes time and money!
There are inefficiencies at every step and Hims and Hers goal is to use technology to solve them.
Hims operates in the relatively new and promising telemedicine industry which is poised for explosive global growth.
Polaris Market Research forecasts that the US Telemedicine market will grow with a 17.7% CAGR till 2032 to reach $131.5B!
This growth is driven by a desire for lower costs, simpler, faster, and personalized services that deliver better outcomes.
If Hims is indeed successful at building a sophistica