By Milt Capps
Published Monday, December 5, 2011 11:19 am
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Big City Docs LLC, the Birmingham startup that is building online consumer guides to healthcare providers, plans to launch its site Nashville in 2012, CEO Scott Kubiszyn told VNC.
To fund expansion to Nashville, Big City Docs plans to seek B-round investment from Nashville and other investors within about six months, Kubiszyn explained. Some Nashville venture-capital firms have been contacted, said Kubiszyn, but no money yet raised here.
Its BirminghamDoctors.org site is active and it has raised nearly $1 million from Angel and A-round investors, thus far, Kubiszyn noted.
Both Nashville and Atlanta are targeted for 2012 and have formal placeholder pages at their respective web addresses. A little online trial-and-error research shows corresponding addresses have been secured for Memphis and Chattanooga; Austin, Texas; Raleigh, N.C.; MississippiDoctors.org; Huntsville and Montgomery, Ala., as well.
Numerous other sites, including Knoxville and Charleston, S.C., have similar domain names reserved by some entity, but those addresses do not yet have the same placeholder page as other Big City Docs holdings. Kubiszyn did not say how many addresses his company has reserved.
Big City Docs' current scenario calls for being in all major Southeastern cities by the end of 2013, with a C-round capital raise likely that year, Kubiszyn explained.
The company aims to be in 40 or more U.S. cities by 2015, he said. Its business model calls for providers to subscribe to have their practices listed. Its single Birmingham site is annualizing $200,000 revenue from 70 practices in the market; advertising and lead-generation services will eventually be offered at additional charges, he said.
Big City Docs recently received investment of undisclosed amount from nearly a dozen Angels within Digital Media Holdings and from New Capital Partners - Waveland, the latter using funds provided via the Alabama Certified Capital Co. (CAPCO) program, Kubiszyn explained. The CAPCO program is an initiative with a purpose close to that of the Tennessee TNInvestco program, but with a different features.
A function allowing consumers to schedule appointments will soon be added to the company's sites; to achieve that tech upgrade, Big City Docs seeks to buy a small technology business and hire its owner; that deal is expected to close in January, said Kubiszyn.
Kubiszyn, soon 36, has share options as part of his agreement as CEO, he said. He previously worked for Nashville-based Cybera as director of corporate development and is a 2004 MBA graduate of the Owen Graduate School of Management. He earned his bachelor's in finance at Auburn University in 1998. He was earlier associated with Accenture, Bonaventure Capital and Harbert Management Corp, according to LinkedIn.
Big Docs resides in Birmingham's Innovation Depot business incubator, which operates in partnership with the University of Alabama at Birmingham and other community nonprofits. VNC