Startup MoldCo launched in 2023 to address a widespread yet underdiagnosed health issue: mold toxicity. The company offers a virtual clinic to make it easier for individuals to access mold and environmental toxins testing services, diagnosis and treatment.
MoldCo landed $8 million in seed funding, co-led by Cantos and Collaborative Fund, to scale up its lab testing and treatment services. The startup has raised $11 million to date.
Ariana Thacker, a former chemical engineer turned venture capitalist, was inspired to launch MoldCo after her own personal health journey.
In 2022, Thacker began having serious and unexplained health symptoms.
"Between a six-and-a-half-month period, I went from being quite healthy, no prior health issues, was actively working out and feeling great to having debilitating symptoms, and that showed up as fatigue, brain fog, significant hair loss, significant weight gain and mood changes," Thacker said in an exclusive interview with Fierce Healthcare.
Through an air quality assessment, high levels of mold were discovered in Thacker's Miami apartment. Mold exposure can have significant health impacts and medical issues can range from mild allergies to serious chronic conditions.
Thacker saw a variety of doctors to address her health issues. In addition to her primary care provider, she visited a host of different specialists, including neurologists, immunologists and allergists, she said.
"I went to functional health specialists. We conducted a battery of tests, including an MRI, including various blood work, and the blood work and MRI showed up largely normal, which is atypical for the symptoms I was experiencing. It was this big enigma and I was getting ping-ponged around with these different specialists and providers," she said. "One of my close friends tipped me off that, hey, this could be mold in my home. My response to her was, 'Mold causes this level of health issues?' From there, I became more laser-focused on what are the treatment approaches out there, who can help me?"
"Even to this day, I'm still taking medication on an ongoing daily basis. So I developed what seems to be a chronic condition just from six-and-a-half months of mold exposure in my unit," she added.
Thacker launched MoldCo in 2023 to offer mold exposure tests and treatment protocols online. The company's clinical model is backed by leading physicians and environmental health experts, she said.
The company's telehealth platform directly addresses the accessibility barriers inherent in treating mold toxicity. Patients can access certified specialists in mold toxicity, eliminating long wait times for specialty care, and get specialized biomarker testing that checks for key immune and inflammation markers. Once a diagnosis is made, patients can get access to prescription-strength binders, targeted peptides and specific compounded therapies, shipped directly to their homes.
Patients also get support via dedicated care navigators through MoldCo’s platform, guiding patients through medical protocol.
MoldCo's treatments cost between $150 and $300 per month for most patients. For lab testing, a starter panel costs $99 and a more comprehensive panel costs $799, which tests for 16 biomarkers.
MoldCo has piloted its advanced lab testing in 46 states and also offers virtual healthcare services in Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio and Texas.
With the fresh capital, MoldCo plans to expand its virtual clinic and aims for full nationwide access by 2026. The company also plans to further develop its proprietary care technology, scale patient onboarding and support operations. MoldCo will also invest in clinical research collaborations as it continues to increase public and physician awareness of mold toxicity.
The company aims to standardize mold detox as a routine part of preventive care, making it as common as a physical or dental exam, executives said.
"My own journey through the confusing and often dismissive landscape of conventional medicine while battling severe mold illness was frustrating and isolating," Thacker said. "It revealed a critical gap: individuals are suffering because the specialized knowledge needed to diagnose and treat these conditions is widely unavailable. MoldCo was born from that experience. By combining specialized clinical expertise with telehealth accessibility, we're making evidence-based care available to everyone who needs it as quickly as possible, at a fraction of the current cost."
Most physicians do not screen for or treat mold-related illness, despite more than 50% of U.S. households showing signs of mold, water damage or dampness. It's estimated that 25 million people in the U.S. are impacted by a mold-related illness. People who suffer from mold exposure often spend years and a great deal of money searching for explanations and cycling through specialists and misdiagnoses, when a simple screening for mold toxicity could have provided them with clarity.
Treatment can also be prohibitively expensive or difficult to access. Many patients experience serious long-term symptoms, including Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS), a debilitating condition triggered by mold exposure and frequently mistaken for chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia or anxiety.
"The profound impact of environmental factors, like those found in water-damaged buildings, on human health and the immune system has been documented for decades," said Ritchie Shoemaker, M.D., a recognized expert in patient care, research and education pioneer in the field of biotoxin-related illness. “The days of simply living with mold and biotoxin-related illness have been replaced by peer-reviewed treatment protocols, developed from nearly 30 years of research and evidence-based care, and now being made accessible through MoldCo.”
Patients often have to pay out-of-pocket for healthcare services to address mold toxicity. "There isn't an ICD-10 code for mold-related illness," Thacker said. "We've actually drafted a policy to help cover that blind spot essentially in standard medical practice. We've introduced a policy to introduce an ICD-10 code for mold-related illness, as well as environmental health screening questions at the annual visit as a preventative measure to have more general awareness that mold causes health issues, but also to help patients before they develop a chronic condition or before they get sick."
Patients have been left navigating a confusing, expensive, and often invalidating system for far too long, said Amee Kapadia, partner at Cantos.
"MoldCo is not just providing a service; they are building the essential infrastructure for accessible diagnosis and treatment, leveraging technology to bring scientifically validated protocols and expert care directly to those who have been profoundly overlooked. We are convinced they will lead the way in resolving this widespread health challenge," Kapadia said in a statement.