Physical therapy startup Hinge Health is considering delaying its IPO as the public markets plunge in response to President Donald Trump’s tariff plans, Business Insider has learned.
But the startup hopes to forge ahead with its spring IPO timeline, as a provider of critical health services.
Hinge Health filed its S-1 to go public in March and hoped to start pitching investors toward the end of April, according to a source familiar with the efforts.
After Trump announced sweeping retaliatory tariffs on Wednesday— sending the public markets into a frenzy — Hinge Health could be forced to reassess those plans.
Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs will range from 10% to 50% on imported goods from about 90 countries, the president said Wednesday. Since that announcement, the S&P 500 has plunged more than 9%.
Hinge Health had hoped to go public sometime in April or May, keeping its plans flexible with the market volatility in mind, the person said.
That person said Hinge will still seek to IPO unless it can’t draw investors’ attention away from the volatility in their existing portfolios. The startup has plenty of cash on its balance sheet and doesn’t need the IPO proceeds to finance the business, they said.
A representative for Hinge Health declined to comment.
Hinge isn’t the only startup considering delaying its IPO plans. Payments platform Klarna and online ticket marketplace StubHub both put their plans on ice following the tariffs announcement. According to the Wall Street Journal, Klarna and StubHub planned to pitch public investors on their respective IPOs next week but decided to postpone their roadshows after the last two days of market volatility.
Klarna and StubHub both declined to comment to Business Insider.
Healthcare’s IPO drought
Hinge Health would be the first healthcare delivery startup to IPO in nearly three years. The IPO market has been decidedly closed for digital health startups since 2021, and the healthcare companies from that year’s IPOs haven’t performed well on the public markets.
Daniel Perez and San Francisco-based company launched in 2014 to provide virtual care for joint and muscle pain. It’s raised more than $1 billion from VCs, including Tiger Global, Coatue Management, Insight Partners, and Atomico, including a $400 million Series E in October 2021 at a $6.2 billion valuation.
The company’s public S-1 filing in March revealed a strong financial profile for a healthcare startup. The startup reported $390 million in revenue in 2024, up 33% from the previous year’s revenue, and a 77% gross margin. It’s not profitable yet, but getting close, recording $45 million of free cash flow in 2024 but a net loss of $11.9 million for the full year.
The person familiar with Hinge Health’s IPO plans says the startup’s business is somewhat recession-proof as a healthcare benefits provider that can help drive cost savings for employers. Hinge Health also doesn’t charge copays for its services, which the person said makes its platform more compelling when the costs of living surge.
Hinge Health isn’t the only healthcare startup hoping for a public market debut. Omada Health confidentially filed its S-1 last summer, BI reported in October. Hinge Health rival Sword Health has also expressed interest in going public when the IPO window reopens for healthcare companies.
Jyoti Mann also contributed to this report.
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