Ro CEO Zachariah Reitano says the benefits of being a private company are growing

Ro founder and CEO Zachariah Reitano said that while he “wouldn’t say” about taking the 7-year-old telehealth company public, he thinks the benefits of going private are growing.

Reitano dodged multiple questions from Axios reporter Dan Primack about whether the company has plans for an IPO in the near term — or at all — at Axios’ BFD event on Oct. 22.

“I may give an unsatisfying answer, but the truth is that right now, we are focused exclusively on delivering a high-quality product for our patients,” Reitano said.

Ro has raised over $1 billion in venture capital from the likes of General Catalyst, Initialized Capital, and Torch Capital, among many others. Ro recently raised $150 million in a round led by ShawSpring Partners that valued the company at about $6.6 billion.

Reitano’s sentiments are likely shared by other late-stage founders as venture-backed companies continue to remain private for longer, according to PitchBook data. Another factor that keeps companies private is the rise of the secondary market as a common way to provide investors and employees with some capital – although most of the activity revolves around a handful of companies.

He also talked about the “uncomfortable bet” of a weight loss drug company that was found on the platform in 2023. Ro was founded in 2017 by Rob Schutz, Saman Rahmanian, and Reitano as a telehealth company focused on erectile dysfunction. The company has expanded into many areas of men’s and women’s health, including hair growth, fertility and skin health. But now it is well known as a supplier of many options of GLP-1s.

Reitano said the company began developing a plan to supply such drugs in 2021 and moved most of its resources to the category at that time. It is now one of the fastest growing sectors of its business.

“Providers want patients to have it, and patients desperately want it. Those things have never happened in any class of drugs before, so in our opinion, the increase and spread of use of GLP-1 is inevitable,” said Reitano.

He added that the expansion was natural at the time for the company as conditions such as obesity impact other health areas the company focuses on, including fertility and sexual health conditions such as erectile dysfunction.