Kivo Health

Kivo Health is a San Francisco-based digital health company that delivers virtual pulmonary rehabilitation and ongoing care for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other chronic lung conditions. Patients are referred by a physician, have their records reviewed by the company's medical director, and receive a "Kivo Kit" shipped to their home containing a cellular-connected tablet, a Bluetooth pulse oximeter and exercise bands, so participation does not require existing home internet access or personal devices.

The program begins with a one-on-one appointment with a breathing specialist to set goals, followed by a nine-week course of two 91-minute live small-group video sessions per week led by licensed respiratory therapists or pulmonary-certified exercise physiologists, with sessions supervised by a board-certified pulmonologist. Sessions combine guided exercise, breathing technique training, inhaler and medication education, and continuous oxygen saturation and heart rate monitoring, and are followed by ongoing support from health coaches. At its 2023 launch the program was described as eight weeks long. The company reports outcomes published in peer-reviewed journals, and cites American Thoracic Society guidance recommending that adults with stable chronic respiratory disease be offered either center-based pulmonary rehabilitation or tele-rehabilitation.

Founding story

Co-founder and CEO Victor Sadauskas completed medical school at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and an emergency medicine residency at Stanford, then practiced emergency medicine at Kaiser Permanente while also working as a digital health investment analyst at Life Science Angels and consulting at Longitude Capital. Observing COPD patients repeatedly readmitted to the ER, and that access - not evidence - was the barrier to pulmonary rehabilitation, he founded Kivo Health in 2021 with co-founder and CTO Vaughn Koch, a repeat founder who previously started Movity (YC W2010), which exited to Trulia. The premise was to deliver rehab to the patient's home rather than requiring travel to a clinic.

Business model

Kivo Health contracts with payers and health systems to deliver a clinically staffed virtual pulmonary rehabilitation program to referred patients. Services are billed to insurance, including Medicare and other accepted plans, with the company reporting $0 out-of-pocket cost for many eligible patients. The company sends health outcomes reports back to referring physicians and integrates with provider EHRs and workflows.

Reimbursement from health plans and Medicare for insurance-covered virtual pulmonary rehabilitation delivered to referred patients, positioned to payers on cost avoidance from reduced hospitalizations (a stated 3.1x return on investment and average savings of $8,000 or more per patient).

Traction

The company reports outcomes across thousands of patients, including 24% improvement in symptoms, 34% improvement in functional capacity, 25% improvement in mood, 83% median attendance/program completion, a 56% reduction in hospital readmissions, and a 3.1x ROI for healthcare partners. Reported revenue was $2.1M in 2024. Team size is listed at 40 on the Y Combinator profile, with other listings citing roughly 21-50 employees. Partnerships are reported with health systems including Stanford, UCLA, Corewell and Optum Health.

Latest developments

Founders report closing a $10M Series A and describe the company as growing quickly, working with health systems including Stanford, UCLA and Optum Health, and hiring engineering and product roles in Seattle. The company published a 2025 Opportunity Report citing 3.1x ROI for health plans and points to a peer-reviewed study of its outcomes.