Nurse staffing app connectRN pulls $76M to empower nurses with flexible shifts, career development

Nurse staffing app connectRN has raised $76 million to scale its tech-enabled platform, the company announced this week.

The app connects nurses and aides with flexible shift offerings as well as career development resources to empower them in community with their peers, the company said in a statement.

The total funding amount blows the company’s previous rounds out of the water—previously, its largest publicly announced round came in at $8.5 million in 2018.

Founded in 2014, the Waltham, Massachusetts-based company has now raised over $100 million to date.

“Nursing is the backbone of the healthcare system, and nurses and aides deserve a responsive community that empowers them to access supportive resources, provides greater flexibility to pursue new work opportunities and allows more control over their careers,” said Maddie Thoms, chief operating officer of connectRN. “We built the connectRN platform to be this solution, a digital community to connect nurses and aides with work opportunities whenever, wherever and however they choose.”

Suvretta Capital Management and Avidity Partners led the round, joined by HBM Healthcare Investments and Infinitum Asset Management, among other firms.

Home health care and hospice care provider Amedisys also participated in the round and will partner with connectRN to coordinate care in these new settings, the company said.

RELATED: Pandemic-era burnout, short-staffing has more nurses eyeing the door, survey says

After nearly two years spent working in healthcare during a pandemic, nurses across the country continue to report suffering burnout.

In a recent survey of nurses and nursing students, about two-thirds of respondents shared some degree of interest in leaving the profession, and 24% said feelings of burnout fueled their job dissatisfaction.

That burnout, among other factors, has translated into mass labor shortages that are only expected to further worsen in the coming years.

A September report by Mercer projected that more than 900,000 registered nurses will permanently leave their roles over the next five years, leaving 29 states unable to respond to the demand.

The labor shortages look poised to burn into hospitals’ bottom lines over the long term as hospitals raise wages and other benefits to maintain their workforce and compete with on-demand staffing agencies.

RELATED: Labor shortages in healthcare expected to rise as demand grows, report finds

Investors have poured millions into physician and nurse staffing startups this year in response to the crisis. Trusted Health pulled in $149 million in November; ShiftMed raised $45 million in October; Nomad Health raked in $63 million in September; and CareRev banked $50 million in April.

“There has been a tremendous need for connectRN’s solution for nurse staffing. This need was magnified, and became painfully apparent, during the pandemic. Nurses and healthcare workers deserve a central place where they can connect, engage and find competitive career opportunities,” said Amanda Birdsey-Benson, an analyst at Suvretta Capital Management. “ConnectRN has a unique tech platform that we believe has the potential to set the standard in the category going forward.”