Why this cofounder moved back to Philly to launch the Uber of house calls

After graduating from Drexel University in 2011, Monik Sheth spent the better part of five years working as a consultant in New York but, when it was time to start his company, he moved back to Philly.

Originally from the Philly suburbs, it was Sheth’s first choice after being exposed to New York and San Francisco’s tech communities.

“A lot of people in Philly say it: Here you feel like a part of the community, even for someone outside coming in,” Sheth told Technical.ly. “I also found more diversity here.”

Together with cofounder Kunal Lodaya, the 28-year-old launched Statum Health two weeks ago, a startup in the healthcare space offering on-demand house calls. For a flat rate of $199, the company lets users in its service area (mostly Philly proper, for now) get preventive or urgent care from a network of from nurse practitioners working as independent contractors.

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Philly’s network of eds and meds anchor institutions like the University of Pennsylvania and Jefferson added to Philly’s case, as did digital health innovation coming from places like Comcast doing connected health initiatives. The team of three includes clinical manager Jessica Divanno, who’s also a nurse practitioner.

(Read Sheth’s Medium explainer on how the idea for the company came together.)

The “Uber for healthcare” model has been done before by other companies like West Coast–based Heal. The cofounder said the “Uber of” phrase is fine for a big picture explainer, but there’s more to the story.

“It’s a bit challenging and off-base,” Sheth said. “Uber’s strategy is to maximize for growth in every situation. We’re delivering healthcare and we need to take a more prudent approach to our growth. Also, we want to work with the incumbents in the space to be a part of the care continuum rather than just disrupt at all costs.”

To date the company is bootstrapped, with both cofounders kicking in $50,000 to get things started. The startup is based out of Philadelphia Media Network’s Project Liberty incubator. Sheth said the next move from Statum Health is raising a seed round. Catch them pitching investors at PACT’s Capital Conference this week.