RELATED CONTENT



NEW YORK—Goldman Sachs’ investment in MyEyeDr./Capital Vision Services was announced in June 2019 and closed in August of that year, representing the start of a major new chapter in what MyEyeDr.’s future platform could be. In early January 2020, when Vision Monday met with CEO Sue Downes and Goldman’s Jo Natauri, at that time the global head of health care investing for the Goldman Merchant Banking Division, the vision was to amplify MED’s efforts to put the patient experience front and center and to raise vision care’s profile and awareness among patients and other provider groups in the health care field.





No one could anticipate that a few short months later, an unprecedented global pandemic would put so many lives and business plans in the U.S. and around the world on hold as the world stopped and gradually adjusted to a new kind of reality. That being said, with more than two years of solid learnings and a strong pace of expansion that took place throughout the pandemic, particularly in 2021, Downes’ and Natauri’s original vision for the group is still intact.

Back in that first interview, Natauri said, “We identified, nearly two years before we were in the process with Sue, that optometry was a real area of opportunity. It is in line with what we saw in many trends happening throughout the health care space. There’s a greater consciousness about cost, about how primary care can bring a greater patient experience. And how optometry encounters patients’ health issues early.

“With the advent of technology, consumers will be making more of their own decisions, interacting with doctors and practices in new ways. Through all of health care, we have to be able to deliver outcomes to patients and there will be a big sea change in referring patients for care overall. We saw that what MyEyeDr. had achieved and the scale they achieved lends itself to that future health care perspective more than any other platform out there. Enabling optometrists to practice to the scope of their license, not just offering retail solutions, but the combination of both—we’re very excited about that balance.”

Two years later, in another exclusive VM conversation late last month, Natauri, now global head of health care private investing for Goldman Sachs’ Asset Management Division, was asked to assess the pandemic’s impact and she said, “When you think about health care, and what COVID did, I think we all had to adapt to the fact that we couldn’t go into the office anymore to get delivery of health care the way we used to. So, one obvious trend emerging is the adoption of telemedicine within health care which has accelerated a few years because COVID happened, compared to if COVID hadn’t happened.

“So that’s a big trend and I think health care systems broadly are trying to figure that out. They now understand patients would prefer to be treated at home or are open to new remote ideas—so the question is, how do we deliver that care in an appropriate way? How do we make care more efficient?”

She added, “I don’t think we’re going to know all the nuances of the pandemic’s impact for a few more years in terms of what’s going to stick and what’s not. But you can bet that the whole health care landscape has changed permanently.”

Another point is the rise of new digital technology, and many times the digital tech that was available in the vision space was fragmented in how it functioned. On that topic Natauri said, “Every industry is going through what it means to embrace digital technology now. It’s about digital access and how its going to be applied.

“But in optometry there are some direct implications from the pandemic—having kids stay indoors for two years increases screen time and impacts myopia rates. You may have postponed getting your eye exam in the last two years—what’s the fallout of that? So eye health, in particular, I think will continue to be increasingly important coming out of this. I think optometry has an important role to play in terms of figuring it out.”

Natauri observed, “As Sue has bolstered her executive team and the organization looks beyond the pandemic, there’s a big upside in elevating the message about the value of comprehensive eyecare in the bigger health care picture. Historically, and generally for the industry, those messages have been a little overshadowed by the retail element of the business in general.”

Natauri said, “We are becoming a lot more deliberate in terms of the quality of acquisitions we’re making. We continue to see the need for consolidation, we think, because of all these things that we talked about the changing landscape which really needs the digital infrastructure now. We think MyEyeDr. can bring a lot to the table for any optometrist thinking about selling their practice. There is a real need for solutions in the marketplace.”

Natauri concluded, “At Goldman, we are investors in growth. That’s what we do. So the investments we’re making now aren’t for a quick turnaround. We know what we’re good at which is we help think through strategy, we think of growth rivers, we provide resources to companies.

“But we also look for a great management team to execute it, and Sue and her team fits right into the fairway of that thesis. She’s been in this industry for such a long time. If you think about the change in this industry, and what she’s done to keep up and continue to be a market leader across all of that change, that’s not an easy thing to do. But it’s how we like to invest and we’re happy that she and MyEyeDr. are a part of our family.”