He Built a $120M+ Rev Public Health Tech Company Without VC. Here's How.
Slice of Healthcare Team
07/29/2025
Tackling the Unsexy Backbone of American Healthcare
In a world of billion-dollar rounds and buzzy AI startups, Andrew Kobylinski quietly built something different and arguably more essential. As the co-founder and CEO of Primary.Health, he’s taking on the gnarly, overlooked problems at the foundation of U.S. public health. Think paper forms, slow vaccine rollouts, and systems no one’s updated in decades. His company helps digitize and streamline public health infrastructure, and they’ve done over $120 million in revenue without a dime of VC money.
What Primary.Health Actually Does
Primary.Health provides software infrastructure for public health departments and private partners to run immunization programs, testing clinics, and more, especially in underserved communities. They replace error-prone, paper-based workflows with digital systems that actually work. The platform helps coordinate between government, providers, and even pharma companies, making sure vaccines and screenings reach the people who need them most.
How It All Started
Andrew never set out to be a CEO. When the pandemic hit, he’d just helped another health tech company find a soft landing and found himself volunteering with UCSF doctors who were scrambling to build COVID testing infrastructure. By night, he and a group of engineers coded until 2 a.m. “I’d put my baby daughter to bed at eight,” he recalls, “and then we’d do a standup and just build.” From those late nights grew Primary.Health, a COVID-born company tackling one of healthcare’s most broken links: public health infrastructure.
Why It Stands Out
Most startups chase sexy markets. Primary.Health went the other way. “We work on simple, unsexy problems,” Andrew says. But they’re critical ones, like the fact that in 2025, many state health departments still rely on paper forms and manual data entry. The reason? No one’s built for this space. “There haven’t been VC-backed companies targeting public health,” he explains. “It’s largely self-reformed by internal IT teams, and they’re stretched thin”.
A Customer Story
In one effort, Primary.Health deployed OCR tools across public health systems, replacing tedious manual entry with faster, more accurate digital processing. The impact? Entire workflows digitized in under two months, something that would’ve taken traditional agencies years. In another initiative, they operate in over 20 church communities, reaching populations where 40% of congregants haven’t seen a primary care provider in a decade.
Who It Helps
Primary.Health serves the parts of America that healthcare often overlooks: low-income families, uninsured individuals, and public health workers trying to stretch razor-thin budgets. Their tools help local health departments do more with less, and make it easier for providers and even pharmacies to participate in immunization and screening programs.
Where It’s Going
Andrew sees a shift happening. As traditional public health systems struggle, consumers are turning to retail health options like CVS, Walgreens, and discount card services for vaccines and preventative care. Primary.Health wants to be the connective tissue in this emerging public-private hybrid. “If we want good public health in this country,” he says, “we need to share platforms and work together”.
Conclusion
In a sea of health tech that chases margins over meaning, Primary.Health is charting a different path, bootstrapped, mission-driven, and laser-focused on fixing public health from the ground up. No flash. Just real-world impact.
Expert Insights
Share Your Expert Insights
Have relevant experience or professional perspective? Add your thoughtful insights to this article.
