A Tampa-based health care staffing venture has landed $60 million in backing to build out its technology and payments platform and help connect employers in need with workers looking for flexibility.
Gale Healthcare Solutions, which was launched in 2016, markets per diem, travel and permanent placement contracts in acute- and post-acute settings, has secured its growth funding from FTV Capital, a firm that has raised more than $4 billion since 1998 and focuses on technology and payments investments. Combined, the entities are looking to grab a greater share of a healthcare staffing market that’s growing quickly due to a growing number of retirements – for traditional reasons as well as from COVID-related burnout – and has become a lucrative income supplement or full employment alternative for many nurses.
More than 39,000 nursing professionals have used Gale’s application – the company also licenses its core software to other staffing firms – to provide more than 10 million hours of patient care in 38 states. The company, which employs more than 500 people, has of late added travel nurses and permanent placements to its offerings and expanded its client base from a base of nursing homes and assisted-living facilities to include hospitals and surgery centers. The number of people receiving care via the company’s platform more than doubled in 2021.
“Gale Healthcare has emerged as a dominant player in a massive, highly fragmented market that continues to grow due to the structural and persistent imbalance between supply and demand for nurse labor,” Richard Liu, a partner at FTV Capital, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to partner with Tony and the team as they lead the healthcare industry forward.”
Gale isn’t the only healthcare staffing company with a gig-economy flavor to recently receive growth capital. Late last year, Massachusetts-based connectRN Inc. and Prolucent Health out of Dallas snagged $76 million and $11.5 million, respectively, to strike while the iron is white hot. That’s not the only place investment is going, though: On the provider side, HCA Healthcare Inc. executives recently said they plan to open up to 18 campuses of their Galen College of Nursing in the next few years to improve the flow of talent into their system.
