Young Indian-American entrepreneur latest billionaire in Chicago

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Rishi U. Shah, 31, a media and technology entrepreneur and investor who is the CEO and founder of Outcome Health, has become the latest Indian-American billionaire in Chicagoland.

The company he founded along with his partner Shradha Agarwal, serves health information and health intelligence “during critical moments of care to enable patients and physicians to make the best healthcare decision possible,” it says on its website. Founded in 2006, Outcome Health partners with 231,000 healthcare providers nationwide to impact 500 million patient visits annually, according to its website. The company claims to help improve health outcomes by serving actionable health information to chronic disease patients. Its clients include 33 of the 35 largest life science manufacturers. Outcome Health places tablets or wallboards in doctors’ offices that provide information and advice on a patient’s chronic condition.

On May 31, Outcome Health announced hefty financing round valuing the company at $5 billion pre-money. Investors include such big names as Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, Alphabet’s growth equity investment fund CapitalG, Leerink Transformation Partners, Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Balyasny Asset Management, among others.”The size of this investment and the quality of participants strongly positions the company to also drive growth across emerging opportunities such as clinical trials, payers, pharmacies and international markets,” the company said in a press release.

“Not since Groupon, has a company raised that kind of capital in a single round of funding. In 2011, Groupon raised $950 million from investors in a fifth round of funding,” noted Chicago Sun-Times. Shah told Sun-Times that the touchscreens that Outcome Health installs in doctors’ offices helps patients and doctors as well as healthcare marketers and pharmaceutical companies, is “changing the life of a doctor.”

A lengthy May 30, article in Forbes.com traces Shah’s rise to become “tech’s newest billionaire” at 31, ten years after dropping out of college.  It estimates Shah’s net worth at $3.6-billion – his 80% stake in Outcome Health.

Shah’s entrepreneurial bent was evident early in life. His mother Sonal Shah, told Sun-Times her son went around the neighborhood at the age of 5, trying to sell hand-painted pictures to them; his father an endocrinologist, Dr. Upendra Shah, said he recognized his son would not go into medicine because he could not stand the sight of blood. Shah apparently found his calling in a field related to medicine where he is not required to hang a stethoscope round his neck or wield a surgical knife.

In addition to his work at Outcome Health, Shah serves on the Board of Directors of many civic organizations including Young Presidents Organization (YPO), 1871, MATTER, and the charter school – Academy for Global Citizenship.

In 2012, Shah co-founded a personal venture investment firm, Jumpstart Ventures. He also serves as a mentor for technology start-up accelerator/incubator programs including TechStars Chicago, HealthBox and Blueprint Health in New York City.

Crain’s Chicago Business recognized Shah as the youngest ever member of their annual 40-Under-40 class in 2009.

Shah attended Northwestern University.  where according to Forbes, he met Sharadha Agrawal, now the president of Outcome Health. They founded ContextMedia at Northwestern in 2008, knocking on doctors’ offices around Chicago to introduce the idea of digital education in their offices. In November 2016, the two young Indian-American entrepreneurs, purchased their main rival AccentHealth.

“The current funding round makes Shah and Agarwal very rich, if illiquid,” Forbes says. Apart from the $3.6 billion net worth the publication estimates for Shah, it says Agarwal’s 20% stake before the round would be worth $900 million. So Agarwal may be well on her way to becoming another Chicagoland Indian-American billionaire.