Zocdoc makes first acquisition in nearly 20-year history

Ever listened to a podcast with ads? Then you’ve probably heard of Zocdoc, a company that helps patients find appointments.

While the company has been around for 19 years, it has never made a single acquisition—until now.

On Oct. 14, the company announced that it had acquired Sohar Health, another health tech founded in 2023 that verifies patients’ insurance coverage. Zocdoc users already had the ability to go online, type in their insurance, area, and medical needs, and the site would give them possible provider matches. Sohar’s technology ensures patients have eligible insurance to get that care.

Sohar’s insurance eligibility technology has been integrated into Zocdoc’s website since 2025, when the companies inked a partnership. Now, Zocdoc owns Sohar, meaning it can expand the technology to other companies, too.

Finding ‘financial strength.’ Zocdoc, which says it now has “millions” of monthly users and a $2.3 billion valuation, has had a bit of a rocky financial journey to get to this place. While the company was declared a “unicorn” in 2015, its pricing model, which charged doctors a $3,000 annual fee to use the service, was not working. The company now uses a model that charges providers for each new patient booked.

With these changes, Zocdoc has been profitable since 2023, and therefore has the “financial strength” to do these types of acquisitions now, Oliver Kharraz, founder and CEO of Zocdoc, told us.

“What’s particularly important when you check insurance status is that you don’t make the patient enter a lot of information and that you can get the response quickly,” Kharraz said. “This is something that Sohar does very well.”

Zocdoc declined to share financial details of the transaction, which officially closed on Oct. 2. According to a press release, Sohar had a $3.8 million seed round in March 2025 led by venture capital firm Kindred Capital.

Turning the page. This acquisition comes about a month after the company announced its “next chapter,” in which it would release a new enterprise platform called Care Access Network. This allows third-party companies, like health insurers or search engines, to implement Zocdoc’s clinician search and scheduling technology (which now includes Sohar’s technology) into their systems, according to a release. 

Companies including Amazon Health AI, Yelp, and Blue Shield of California have all already partnered with Zocdoc to get access to that platform.

Since Zocdoc users have had access to Sohar for about a year, one change that comes with this acquisition is that the technology is now accessible on the Care Access Network, too.

“What is now available to third parties is the combined offering of insurance check and the availability and booking capability, all in one health-access infrastructure network,” Kharraz said.

Riaz Ali, chief strategy officer and managing director at venture fund and advisory firm Rock Health Rock Health, told us via email that Zocdoc’s first acquisition pairs the “two steps that determine whether a patient is able to access in-network care,” which are appointment availability and insurance verification.

“This especially matters as AI assistants increasingly take on healthcare search and booking,” he said, adding he thinks this is a reminder “of how partnerships are often the best diligence for M&A.”

“We really want to become the software access infrastructure,” Kharraz said. He noted how in most other industries, like ecommerce or travel, there are platforms that “make sure that supply and demand can easily match.”

“In healthcare, that’s missing,” he said. “This is the gap that we are filling.”