Color, a Silicon Valley e-health startup founded by a Moroccan has pulled off a great feat, even though 2021 is yet to make any headway. The startup founded by Othman Laraki has now reached a unicorn status, a great way of converting the bad effects of the pandemic into opportunity for e-health startups. Color’s potential in the field of genetic testing has won over investors in a D round, in a record-shattering $278 million fundraise, which has brought the startup’s valuation to $1.5 billion.
“The inability to provide basic health services during the biggest health crisis of our lives is a direct consequence of the lack of a public health delivery model. Public health doesn’t just mean a government-funded model. A modern public health infrastructure should enable all health actors — including governments, businesses and schools — to meet the basic health needs of the people they serve. By investing in technology that ensures easy and affordable access to health care, we are creating the infrastructure that will serve us for decades to come,” said founder Othman Laraki.
With the funds, the startup will scale up its work of building public health technologies and infrastructure for governments, employers and other institutions.
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An exceptional year for Color in the United States
In response to COVID-19, Color has partnered with more than 100 major employers and universities to provide essential testing programs. Color’s technology is fueling the state of California’s efforts with PerkinElmer to process up to 150,000 COVID-19 tests per day. Color’s partnership with the city of San Francisco has helped the city maintain one of the highest COVID-19 per capita testing rates in the country.
An expansionist vision
“We are building the rails for a technology-based national public health infrastructure,” said Othman Laraki. “The inability to provide basic health services during the greatest health crisis of our lives is a direct consequence of the lack of a public health delivery model. Public health doesn’t just mean a government-funded model. A modern public health infrastructure should enable all health actors — including governments, businesses and schools — to meet the basic health needs of the people they serve. By investing in technology that ensures easy and affordable access to health care, we are creating the infrastructure that will serve us for decades to come.”
Color e-health startup Color e-health startup
Born in Casablanca, Morocco in 1979, Othman Laraki began the Color adventure after a brilliant career among the behemoths of the digital market. A former director at Twitter, he also worked at Google for four years, where he was one of the first to launch the Google Chrome project. With this breakthrough as a pioneer in post-pandemic health technologies, it’s a new name for the African Diaspora shining in the skies of Silicon Valley.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer