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‘I think we can grow faster’: Fullscript CEO Kyle Braatz says health-tech trailblazer is ‘ripe to win’

June 19, 2024
4:09 PM
ET

The co-founder and CEO of health-tech pioneer Fullscript has piloted the Ottawa-based company to a position of dominance in North America’s burgeoning wellness industry.

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As his 40th birthday approaches, Kyle Braatz need not look far to find reasons to celebrate. The co-founder and CEO of health-tech pioneer Fullscript has piloted the Ottawa-based company to a position of dominance in North America’s burgeoning wellness industry. After acquiring competitor Emerson Ecologics two years ago in a deal that doubled its sales overnight, Fullscript surpassed US$700 million in revenues in 2023 and is quickly zeroing in on the coveted $1-billion milestone. Helming a billion-dollar company would put Braatz, who was named Ottawa’s CEO of the Year in 2022 by OBJ and the Ottawa Board of Trade, in elite company among the city’s corporate leaders. But Braatz already joined another ultra-exclusive local business club last fall when Toronto businessman Michael Andlauer, who bought the Ottawa Senators, invited him to be part of the NHL team’s ownership group. “It’s like you’re on this massive mission – you’re trying to do something really incredible,” says Braatz, who turns 40 next week. “We’re one team trying to win a Stanley Cup. I’m a very, very small part of that, but at least there’s a community that I can be a part of where we’re growing together and excited about the same thing.” The University of Ottawa graduate is every bit as passionate about Fullscript’s quest to help change the way health-care treatment is administered. The company that began 13 years ago as an online platform for dispensing vitamins, minerals and other nutritional supplements has morphed into an industry trailblazer in a field Braatz describes as “whole-person medicine.” More than 100,000 physicians, nurses and other wellness professionals now use Fullscript’s technology platform to prescribe supplements and create personalized nutritional regimens and other treatment plans for 10 million patients across Canada and the United States. With 800 employees and multiple distribution centres on both sides of the border, Fullscript is a bona fide juggernaut. But Braatz says resting on its laurels is not an option for his company, which continues to push the boundaries of technology and is currently developing AI-powered diagnostic tools designed to help wellness practitioners come up with nutritional plans in a matter of minutes based on lab results and other patient data. “When you look at the tailwinds behind whole-person medicine, this is where health care is moving,” he says. “I think we’re at the forefront of this entire shift. The innovation that we’re investing in right now is going to be the standard of how whole-person medicine is practised. “The moment we finished the integration with Emerson Ecologics, this company transformed right back to a startup. It was innovation time, and we have just knocked it out of the park. The comment one of our board members made last meeting was, ‘This is a completely different company than when I started two years ago.’” As health-care systems across North America shift their focus toward preventing illness and disease, Fullscript seems to be in an ideal position. Its technology is directly integrated into leading U.S. health-care delivery platforms such as Boston-based Athenahealth, whose cloud-based services include digital record-keeping and self-scheduling systems. The number of practitioners using Fullscript has risen more than 40 per cent in the past two years, and its revenues are growing at a rate of 20 per cent annually. But Braatz warns Fullscript can’t get complacent if it wants to cement its status as a leader in integrative medicine. “We’re crossing that chasm,” he says. “I think we can grow faster.”

New hires in executive suite

To that end, the company keeps unveiling new products, including software set to be officially launched next week that is designed to give physicians deeper insights into lab results and help them prescribe better treatment plans. Meanwhile, Fullscript recently boosted its leadership ranks with new hires aimed at accelerating its scaleup push and helping the firm attract more top-tier talent. The company announced earlier this month it has added three new members to its executive suite: chief people officer Dennis Richter, whose background includes senior roles at Meta and Google; chief commercial officer Christopher Catallo, who has extensive experience working in the U.S. digital health industry; and general counsel Steven Eisenberg, who spent more than a decade doing similar work for prominent health-care providers in Ohio. In addition, Heather Tyrie, who had been Fullcript’s chief talent officer since 2021, has moved into a new role as vice-president of talent engagement. “These are individuals who believe in the mission and believe in each other,” Braatz says. “I think we have the right mix.” Braatz believes annual revenue growth of 30 to 40 per cent is well within reach for Fullscript. Hitting the top end of that range would put it close to the same territory that another high-flying Ottawa-based tech firm, e-commerce powerhouse Shopify, was in at the same stage of its existence. Maybe it’s no coincidence, then, that Braatz doesn’t hesitate to mention Ottawa’s biggest tech darling of the last decade when he muses about Fullscript’s long-term prospects. “I personally think Fullscript has the potential to be in the same conversation as FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google), the same conversation as Shopify, the same conversation as all of the big dogs,” he says. “We can be one of the biggest companies in health care. If I believe that, then, I mean, $10 billion (in annual revenues) has to be a reality, right? Maybe $100 billion has to be a reality. But that’s a little further away.” Bold? Maybe. But there’s an old saying that life begins at 40. If that’s the case, then it would seem that Braatz and Fullscript are both just getting started. “I know there’s so much room in this market, and we’re ripe to win,” he says. “The sky’s the limit in this business.”