Healthcare data company HealthVerity is hiring to keep up with biz demands during the pandemic

While businesses owners across industries and regions are making the tough decision to lay off staffers during the economic downturn caused by the spread of COVID-19, some healthtech companies are in the odd position of being busier than ever.

That’s the case for Center City-based HealthVerity, which moved into a new office in December to accommodate its already-growing team. The five-year-old company, maker of a privacy-minded data marketplace for the pharma and insurance industries, took over an entire floor of 1818 Market St. late last year with plans for more new hires after a $25 million Series C raise in the spring of 2019.

“The coronavirus pandemic has increased demand for real-time data and technologies that capture the impact of COVID-19 on patient utilization of the healthcare industry at large,” the company said in a recent statement. “As such, HealthVerity is poised to activate relevant trend data for life sciences and insurance companies seeking to evaluate and shape the trajectory of their businesses.”

The staff, at about 75 last time we checked in with them, already had plans for hiring in 2020. But the global health crisis has put those on the fast track, COO Andrew Goldberg said.

The company announced this week that it had about 20 positions open, and Goldberg told Technical.ly it had just offered positions to three candidates, and has seven more offer letters out. The goal at the end of 2020 was to add about 50 more people to the team, and that’s still likely, but it’s happening at a much faster pace to keep up with demand, he said.

Hiring remotely hasn’t been as difficult as the team expected, Goldberg said — and indeed, because everyone is stuck at home, scheduling time to talk to candidates has been easier. The COO added that he’s already seen folks who have been laid off from other companies in the last few weeks applying, and he’s eager to scoop up talented folks.

“We are in an industry that requires innovative approaches and astute problem-solving. So now, more than ever, we need talent of high caliber,” Goldberg said.

Although many in the tech space long embraced a work-from-home option, Goldberg said it was an adjustment for his team members, who are so used to coming into their new office.

“We as a company designed the office from scratch to be a super collaborative space to have an on-site workforce,” he said — so to move to that remote world was very jarring, although tools in place, like Zoom and Slack have make that transition easier.

Those 20 open roles represent HealthVerity’s engineering and data, product, and sales and marketing teams.

“We have more healthcare data now than probably any other company in the country,” Goldberg said. “And we’ll just keep hiring until we feel like we can keep up with the current demand for that data.”