Insight & Analysis | Financial Technology & Services (FTS)
Building a Market Leader in Healthcare IT and Payments: THL in Action
In an increasingly complex healthcare environment, specialty medical practices need tools that simplify operations, improve patient care, and enable growth. That’s where Nextech—a leading healthcare technology platform—comes in. With end-to-end software tailored for ophthalmology, dermatology, and plastic surgery practices, Nextech helps clinicians manage everything from medical records and scheduling, to billing and payments.
When THL invested in Nextech in 2019, the company had a solid foundation, but untapped potential across product development, go-to-market capabilities, and its potential to embed financial services in its core platform. Over the next four years, THL partnered closely with management to unlock that potential—transforming Nextech into a scaled, integrated SaaS and payments platform serving thousands of specialty practices nationwide.
Investing Behind Two Compelling Sector Opportunities
“THL’s been an investor in healthcare IT for well over a decade,” explains Shahab Vagefi, Managing Director, THL. “We take all our learnings from the healthcare services side to really understand the pain points that providers have, what they need to be able to run their businesses more efficiently, what they need to be able to deliver better clinical care. And we like to use that experience and that expertise to home in on certain areas within healthcare IT”
Nextech fit squarely within THL’s Healthcare IT investment thesis, which targets vertical SaaS platforms delivering mission-critical services to specialized providers. As practices consolidate and patient expectations rise, solutions that streamline back-office functions while enhancing the care experience are increasingly essential.
At the same time, during diligence, THL also saw an opportunity to build a payments system into the company’s core product to improve their customer experience while also opening a new revenue stream for Nextech. In effect, the investment bridged two of the firm’s Identified Sector Opportunities (ISOs), or targeted investment sectors.
“This was an opportunity to bring together our expertise in Healthcare IT and embedded finance,” said Ganesh Rao, Managing Director and Head of THL’s Financial Technology & Services vertical. “We saw the chance to help Nextech grow into a modern, enterprise-grade platform that could serve as the digital backbone of specialty practices.”
Revamping Go-to-Market Strategy
THL’s Strategic Resource Group (SRG) and Executive Partner network played a hands-on role in helping to accelerate Nextech’s commercial transformation. Working closely with the company’s management team, THL helped redesign the company’s go-to-market strategy—optimizing pricing and packaging, realigning the sales team and their compensation, and enhancing the GTM organization.
“Given the strength of Nextech’s products, particularly in ophthalmology, our job was to match that with a high performing GTM engine,” said Rob Spies, Managing Director in THL’s SRG. “That meant rethinking how we approached customers, from the initial sale through implementation and then adding new products and services to help our customers grow with us.”
The results: stronger pipeline visibility, increased sales productivity, and faster growth from high-value practice groups and consolidators.
Embedding Payments to Drive Value
“When we acquired Nextech, payments was not their priority,” said Mark Bean, Managing Director in THL’s Financial Technology & Services vertical. “We saw an opportunity to accelerate monetization of their existing payment streams and create a better customer experience by building an internal payments solution from the ground-up.”
In pursuit of this objective, THL helped Nextech launch an in-house payments solution from the ground up. Partnering directly with THL’s Strategic Resource Group (SRG), management launched a fully integrated payments offering, and built a dedicated payments team across the product, engineering, sales, and operations organizations.
By the end of THL’s hold period, a significant number of Nextech’s customers were taking advantage of payments solution to improve the efficiency of their operations. In effect, Nextech had built a brand new business line that didn’t exist prior to the THL partnership.
“Vertically tailored software is the heartbeat of a business,” said Bean. “Embedding payments into that workflow creates better experiences for customers and real economic value for the platform.”
Scaling Through Product, M&A, and Investments in Leadership Team
Beyond GTM and payments, THL helped Nextech double down on innovation—boosting R&D investment, expanding product capabilities, and acquiring complementary solutions like TouchMD to enter adjacent markets such as Medical Spas, a growing segment of the healthcare market.
During COVID-19, Nextech quickly introduced virtual care features and provided financial relief to customers, reinforcing its role as a trusted partner. And throughout the hold period, THL helped build a leadership team with deep SaaS and fintech expertise, including then-CEO Bill Lucchini.
“THL was a true partner in the business,” said Lucchini. “Their support—whether strategic, operational, or just helping navigate tough moments—made a real difference.”
Lessons from Nextech’s Transformation
Nextech’s journey offers valuable insights for healthcare software companies looking to scale:
- Go-to-market excellence is key: Aligning product packaging, sales structure, and compensation drives real momentum.
- Payments integration unlocks new value: Embedded fintech can meaningfully expand revenue and improve the customer experience.
- Strategic M&A expands TAM: Thoughtful acquisitions can deepen product-market fit and accelerate growth.
- Operational partnership matters: Having hands-on support—from veteran operators to domain experts—supports execution.
Conclusion
From a strong foundation to a category leader in specialty healthcare IT, Nextech’s growth story is a testament to the power of strategic partnership. With THL’s support, the company modernized its business model, embedded new value-added services, and expanded its reach—ultimately becoming a next-generation platform for specialty practices.
