He is a health entrepreneur who wants to transform how primary care is provided to hourly employees who do not have health insurance. Joseph Kitonga is the creator of Vitable Health, a Woodlyn-based company that charges roughly $50 per month per employee for its services.
Workers in child care, restaurants, and home care have complimented Vitable Health for its outstanding quality and simplicity. The company has registered over 10,000 people in Southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware since its inception in 2021.
“Instead of building on top of existing, broken infrastructure, we’ve redesigned the healthcare experience to put our members at the center,” said the page of the company on LinkedIn. “No waiting rooms, copays, or deductibles. Our providers, labs, and imaging come directly to you, either virtually or through our concierge in-home visits,” read another part.
Kitonga is of Kenyan descent, according to Forbes. He moved from Kenya to the United States when he was 13 years old, and he witnessed his parents bootstrap a modest home healthcare business. He began his business while attending Penn State University.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, he enrolled in the famed Silicon Valley technology start-up accelerator Y Combinator in 2020 and later obtained a fellowship from billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel’s charity. According to the site, the fellowship comprises $100,000 over two years for entrepreneurs who dropped out of college to start a firm.
His decision to become a health entrepreneur and start Vitable was influenced by the healthcare travails of employees at Hosana Home Healthcare, a Delaware County company started by his parents in 2012.
“At their small business, hourly workers made too much to qualify for Medicaid, too little to afford comprehensive health insurance, so they were stuck uninsured and overutilizing the ER,” Kitonga said. “Vitable is built to be their primary-care plan that is both affordable and accessible.”
Because of its commercial model, the company has attracted a lot of investors in recent years. It obtained a $1.6 million investment headed by SoftBank’s Opportunity Fund in 2021, as well as $7.2 million in venture financing to expand in October 2021. Vitable employs 22 people and relies on approximately 50 nurse practitioners to deliver the majority of the service.
Kitonga was recently named to the renowned Forbes 30 under 30 list, where he was included in the category of immigrants, with other entrepreneurs who came to the country.