Heidi took US$240m of its US$340m round as finance it repays with interest

The US$240 million from General Catalyst can only be spent on marketing and sales, and revenue from the customers it acquires flows back to General Catalyst with interest on top ^[3]. The deal turns on a spread: what Heidi pays to sign a clinician, a practice or a hospital network, against what that account pays in the years after the facility is repaid ^[13]. The interest rate is not on the record, and neither is whether repayment is capped at what the acquired customers actually pay ^[25].

Kelly gave the term. "It's a slightly more flexible facility because we have this commitment for US$240 million that can last us roughly four and a half years," he said ^[8]. Spread evenly, that allows about US$53 million a year of sales and marketing spending ^[22]. That is more than the $50 million annualised revenue Heidi reported in April, whether the figure is read as Australian or US dollars ^[23].

The equity leg is the smaller part of the round. New money totals US$340 million, and the facility is about 71 per cent of it ^[20][21]. Kelly said the facility appealed because it brought in hundreds of millions without selling equity ^[12], and he was blunt about what that avoids: "It means we're less on the hook to go do equity raises every 12 to 18 months to keep growing business" ^[9]. Blackbird, which led the US$100 million Series C, said in August that it owned 35 per cent of Heidi, a figure that did not yet include that investment ^[14][2].

Where the money can go matters more than its size. "The lion's share of the funding and where we're spending money is in new markets, like France and Germany," Kelly said ^[10]. Entering a market is mostly a sales and marketing cost, so the facility fits that work. Agentic care is a different line item, and Heidi says announcements on it are coming soon ^[17].

Forbes Australia describes the arrangement as similar to a debt facility, and on the repayment side that holds ^[3]. What differs is the ring fence: the customers the money buys are the ones whose revenue services it, so the conversion rate decides whether the facility pays for itself. Kelly said about half of Heidi's users stick to free tools only, with the other half on paid features ^[16].

Repayment lands in the same window as the break-even promise. "By the end of next year we should be cash-flow neutral," Kelly said ^[11], while adding that Heidi would likely remain unprofitable on a GAAP basis because of share-based employee compensation ^[18]. Blackbird partner Michael Tolo said: "We've backed Tom and the team since their pre-seed in 2021 and our conviction is greater than ever" ^[15].

This record covers one borrower and one lender ^[2]. One facility will not settle whether use-restricted customer-acquisition finance becomes the standard way AI companies fund growth. Heidi's $1.26 billion mark is about 25 times the annualised revenue it reported in April ^[24].