A health care company known for catering to millennial men diversifies its product line, and earns new fans along the way.
Like many New Yorkers the week before Christmas, Dinah Chamberlain,39, was on the hunt for at-home Covid-19 tests. She was going to visit her parents in Wisconsin, and she wanted to test regularly while with them. “I heard that one pharmacy near me in Williamsburg had them. I called them, and they said they only had five left,” she said. “I ran over there to watch the person in front of me buy the last one.” Soon after, she saw a post on Instagram from a local news site in her Brooklyn neighborhood saying that Roman, a health care provider known for catering to men, had tests in stock and could get them to customers within two days. The New York City-based start-up was founded in October 2017 as a digital men’s health clinic. It is a place men — especially the millennials who make up the target audience of cheeky subway ad campaigns — can get treatment for conditions including hair loss, erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation. And no in-person doctor’s visit is needed; everything can be done virtually. Ms. Chamberlain, who works as a men’s wear designer, had vaguely heard about the company through subway and television ads, but she certainly never expected to become a customer. Until now that is. She had tests shipped to Wisconsin immediately. “It’s funny that in an emergency situation I am turning to an erectile dysfunction company,” she said. “I mean, good for them for having them when no one else did.” Since its inception Roman, now called Ro, the umbrella company name, has grown beyond serving men who have problems they want to take care of quietly. A year after the company launched, it created Zero, a virtual, medical program to help people stop smoking. Within three years it had Rory, the women’s version of Roman with services including skin care and sexual health treatments, and Ro Pharmacy, an online pharmacy that distributes over 1,000 generic prescriptions across the United States. It now owns Modern Fertility, a reproductive health clinic; Kit, a company that does at-home diagnostic testing; and Ro Mind, a mental health clinic geared toward treating anxiety and depression. According to Ro, clients span all ages and have a wide variety of medical needs.
