Inside Forward's failed attempt to revolutionize the doctor's office

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2024-11-14 07:00:03

Launched in 2017 by several high-profile executives from Google and Uber, Forward set out to disrupt primary care with tech-enabled, ultramodern clinics. In mid-2023, it shifted its attention to a new offering: an AI-powered doctor-in-a-box.

Replete with ultraviolet lighting and floor-to-ceiling screens, the metallic "CarePods" let patients get a doctor visit sans the doctor — directing patients to take their own blood, sequence their DNA, and test for diseases like COVID-19, all without speaking with another human.

"If Elon has the self-driving car, well, this is the autonomous doctor's office," Forward CEO Adrian Aoun told Axios in late 2023.

Today, Forward's first CarePod is gone. Where the kiosk used to sit in the center of the Roseville Galleria mall, two strips of blue painter's tape lie stuck to the shiny marble floor.

The startup announced Tuesday it would close its doors, just a year after raising $100 million in a Series E funding round to power its CarePods rollout. That fundraise took its total funding to over $650 million.