The U.S.-based healthcare job matching platform Incredible Health Inc. said today it has closed on an $80 million round of funding that takes its value to more than $1.65 billion.

With the Series B round, Incredible Health claims it has become the most valuable “tech-enabled” career marketplace within the healthcare sector.

Today’s round was led by Base10 Partners with participation from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Obvious Ventures. Others who participated in the round include Kaiser Permanente and various angel investors and funds, such as Workday Inc. Chief Executive Chano Fernando, NBA player Andre Iguodala, Rethink Impact, Stardust Equity, and TikTok personalities Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, who joined the round via their 444 Capital Fund.

Incredible Health was founded by its CEO Iman Abuzeid and her colleague Rome Portlock. As doctors, they both had family members who were struggling to find opportunities in the healthcare system — dealing with low pay, long hours and unpredictable schedules.

The startup delivers something much better, helping to connect health systems with nurses who are looking for full-time positions with better pay. To do this, Incredible Health first gathers information on each nurse’s licenses, certifications and any malpractice cases against them. It also asks each candidate about their goals, where they want to work and what skills they wish to gain. It also provides various development and training courses for nurses.

Once it has this information, it helps nurses find full-time employment exclusively, using machine learning to match them with health systems in just 14 days, far ahead of the national average of 90 days.

By doing this, Incredible Health says, it’s helping address a chronic shortage of nurses within the U.S. healthcare industry that existed even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitals across the country are struggling with low staff numbers, the company points out.

Abuzeid said nurses are the backbone of the U.S. healthcare system, and as such they deserve access to the teams and tools not only to succeed, but also feel fulfilled in their careers.

“Our model has met the moment and changed the paradigm for both nurses and healthcare providers in the most challenging time in U.S. healthcare,” she said.

Incredible Health is making its mark. It claims that 2021 was a “milestone” year for the company, with revenue growing by more than 500%, off an undisclosed base, and more than 10,000 nurses per week joining its platform. It also claims to have signed up more than 60% of the top-ranked hospitals in the U.S., with more than 600 now using its platform to solve their permanent staffing problems.

The company explained in a blog post that the funding from today’s round will be used to support optimization of its hiring workflow through machine learning technology that helps to screen and match nurses with health systems. It will also spend some of the cash on career support for nurses and other healthcare workers, with a focus on skills growth, education, mobility and relocation. New features for its nurse community hub will be added too, including personalized advice and content ranking.

Ultimately, Incredible Health says it has ambitions to scale up its platform to 90% of the U.S. nurse workforce. It will also move beyond nurses into other healthcare roles where critical shortages continue to plague the industry.

Featured photo: fernandozhiminaicela/Pixabay