Finrise, Inc. is a company.
Key people at Finrise, Inc..
Finrise, Inc. was founded by Garrett Smallwood (Co-founder and CEO).
Finrise, Inc. is a healthcare financing platform that provides patient-friendly payment solutions for elective medical, dental, audiology, and veterinary services not covered by insurance.[1][3][6] It offers transparent interest-rate loans with flexible terms, instant virtual card delivery, budgeting guides, on-call specialists, and appointment booking assistance, primarily serving patients and healthcare practices via a seamless cloud-based system.[1][6] Founded in 2015 in Burlingame, California, the company raised $5.52M from investors like NFX Guild and Mayfield before being acquired by Wag! (Wag Labs, Inc.) in July 2017, addressing out-of-pocket costs to boost care accessibility.[1][2]
The platform solves the problem of high upfront costs for non-insured treatments by enabling quick approvals, predictable payments, and integrated practice tools that cut paperwork, fostering growth in elective healthcare financing amid rising patient expenses.[1][6]
Finrise was founded in 2015 in San Mateo (later headquartered in Burlingame), California, as a response to gaps in financing for elective healthcare like dental, audiology, and veterinary services.[1][3] Led by CEO Garrett Smallwood, the company emerged to make quality care more accessible through simple, transparent loans and support tools, quickly gaining traction with investments from NFX Guild, Mayfield, and Western Technology Investment totaling $5.52M.[1][3][4]
A pivotal moment came in July 2017 when Finrise was acquired by Wag Labs, Inc. (operator of Wag!, a pet care service), integrating its financing expertise into broader pet and human health services while maintaining a small team of around 3-10 employees.[1][2][3]
Finrise rides the trend of fintech-healthcare convergence, capitalizing on rising out-of-pocket costs for elective procedures amid stagnant insurance coverage for dental, audiology, and veterinary services.[1][3] Timing aligns with post-2015 growth in patient financing platforms, where market forces like consumer demand for flexible payments and pet humanization (e.g., via Wag! integration) drive adoption.[1][2][6]
It influences the ecosystem by partnering with practices to lower barriers to care, competing with firms like Finpay and PrimaHealth Credit while enabling providers to focus on treatment over billing.[1][4]
Post-acquisition by Wag!, Finrise likely evolves within pet-centric services, expanding virtual card and specialist tools to hybrid human-pet health financing amid telemedicine and BNPL (buy now, pay later) booms.[1][2][6] Trends like AI-driven budgeting and embedded finance will shape its path, potentially amplifying Wag!'s ecosystem influence as elective care demand grows with aging populations and pet ownership.[1][6]
This positions Finrise as a quiet enabler of accessible healthcare, turning financing hurdles into seamless care access.[1]
Key people at Finrise, Inc..
Finrise, Inc. was founded by Garrett Smallwood (Co-founder and CEO).
