Why We Backed Andgo

Waterline Ventures and First Ascent Ventures are excited to publicly announce (finally!) our partnership with Andgo, a Canadian-based company that provides workforce management solutions to help hospitals and organizations automate the filling of staff shifts.

Here is some rationale for why we backed the Andgo team:

Why Workforce Management

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of workforce solutions in managing healthcare workers. In 2021, the number one concern for hospital CEOs was employee burnout and personnel shortages, which was the first time since 2004 hospital executives did not cite financial challenges as their primary concern.

Keeping staff engaged and managing full-time versus part-time nurses continues to be a critical focus of hospital systems in 2022. In March, the American Hospital Association submitted a letter to Congress calling workforce challenges, “a national emergency that demands immediate attention from all levels of government and workable solutions”.

Healthcare employment has actually declined since 2020 as nursing job quits have hit all-time highs. In response to these staffing shortages, temporary nurse staffing solutions have become critically important for hospitals to manage labor needs. Hospitals have either partnered with traditional staffing agencies or technology-enabled healthcare platforms to get access to temporary staffing solutions.

Yet, when a nurse calls in sick or does not show up, it often takes 30+ minutes to fill this single shift. Most hospitals still hire a team of staffers to manually fill shifts using paper, phone, and legacy software. In addition, clinical staffing in hospitals is extremely complex and requires different skillsets and attention to seniority when filling vacant shifts.

Why Andgo

Andgo’s intelligent workforce platform eliminates massive spreadsheets and call trees, helping administrators and staff fill hospital shifts much easier. Andgo can fill vacant shifts in a few minutes. On average, Andgo has saved customers $3.50 for every $1 invested, and customers have seen a 7x increase in vacant shift fill rates.

Rather than engaging in the two-sided supply & demand marketplace of supplying additional staff and nurses to an organization, Andgo focuses on maximizing the workflows of an organization’s existing staff by improving workflows. The company’s product can be used across multiple industries including healthcare, manufacturing, and retail.

In addition to improving hospital workflow efficiencies, Andgo’s platform has boosted nurse trust by providing a transparent and standardized shift filling and digitized vacation planning process. On average, Andgo customers have seen an 80% reduction in scheduling grievances and 3x increase in staff satisfaction.

Andgo has been incredibly efficient and achieved strong commercial traction in Canada without ever raising any outside capital prior to this round. Andgo has recently seen strong momentum in the US market, adding several new customers, including major healthcare organizations. The company has 100% customer retention.

This Series A round will allow Andgo to continue its expansion into the US hospital market. We are excited to partner with the Andgo team as it strives to improve healthcare workflows and staffing processes!