Direct-to-consumer virtual care company Hims & Hers is partnering with Uber to deliver personal care items like skincare, hair products, sleep aids and condoms to customers via the Uber Eats app.

The service is available now in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Miami, Houston, Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, Philadelphia, Seattle, Atlanta and Phoenix, although the companies plan to expand to additional cities in the future.

“We have found that adding in the on-demand factor to Hims & Hers products is a game-changer for many consumers,” Hims & Hers COO Melissa Baird said in a statement. “Our relationship with Uber will be the biggest on-demand push we’ve pursued to-date, and we are incredibly pleased to offer the ability for so many more people to be able to access our high quality health and wellness products when they need them.”

WHY IT MATTERS

Launched in 2017, Hims & Hers has been expanding its offerings this year after it went public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, a popular method of public exit for digital health startups. 

In September, it launched a dietary supplement geared toward preventing urinary tract infections, and in June, it announced plans to purchase teledermatology platform Apostrophe. Just weeks before that acquisition announcement it snapped up British personalized health company Honest Health, which specializes in hair loss products. 

The company is also working with Amazon, Walgreens and the Vitamin Shoppe to sell its health and wellness products. 

In its most recent quarterly earnings report, Hims & Hers brought in $74.2 million in revenue compared with $41.3 million in the prior-year period, with a net loss of $15.9 million, compared with $5.9 million from 2020.

THE LARGER TREND

Uber has also been adding to its healthcare-related services. In October, it partnered with senior assistance company Papa in an effort to offer transportation options and decrease social isolation among older adults. 

The ride-share and delivery company also partnered with digital prescription platform NimbleRx in 2020 to expand its pharmaceutical delivery offerings.

At the HLTH conference in October, global head of Uber Health Caitlin Donovan said new ways of providing healthcare services like virtual care and on-demand delivery will increase efficiency and improve the customer experience.

“As we think about providing equitable access to healthcare, you need a lot of components, and virtual care is a huge piece of that,” she said.

“If you can meet people where they are, and then manage by exception, rather than by rules, so you’re only bringing in those folks that really need that clinician’s visit, or meeting them in their home with a prescription delivery [or] a skilled or unskilled caregiver, I think you get a really efficient cost of care, while still meeting people where they are.”