Healthcare · Profile from Healthcare Research Companion
Waystar Holding Corp.
The private-equity-built healthcare payments software company that sits between US providers and payers. It checks eligibility, scrubs and routes claims, works denials, and collects patient payments. It was assembled from two early-2000s internet clearinghouses (Navicure and ZirMed) and a string of acquisitions, passed through three private-equity sponsors, and listed on Nasdaq in June 2024, months after the Change Healthcare cyberattack showed how much the industry depends on a few clearinghouses. By 2025 it had passed $1bn of revenue with ~42% adjusted EBITDA margins, bought AI documentation company Iodine for ~$1.25bn, and in September 2026 was reported to be exploring a sale.
At a glance
- Founded
- Predecessors ZirMed (1999, Louisville, Kentucky) and Navicure (2001, Duluth, Georgia; founder James M. Denny Jr., reported); merged under Bain Capital in 2017 and renamed Waystar in 2018
- Founders
- Navicure: James Denny Jr. and team (reported); ZirMed: founders not well documented (verify). Matt Hawkins (Navicure CEO from 2016, verify) has led the combined company since the merger
- Headquarters
- Lehi, Utah, and Louisville, Kentucky (press releases are datelined from both; verify formal headquarters); offices in Duluth, Georgia, Chicago and elsewhere
- Ownership / structure
- Public company, Nasdaq: WAY (IPO 7 June 2024). Sponsors EQT, CPPIB and Bain Capital have sold down through secondary offerings; in September 2026 EQT held ~13%, CPPIB ~10% (LSEG data via Reuters)
- Leadership (2026)
- Matt Hawkins, CEO; Alpana Wegner, CFO from 1 August 2026 (succeeding Steve Oreskovich, CFO for eight years)
- Segment and buyer
- Health IT / revenue cycle. Buyers are hospitals and health systems, physician groups, ambulatory and specialty providers, labs and post-acute providers, and the EHR and practice-management vendors that embed Waystar
- Scale
- ~30,000 clients representing ~1m providers (IPO materials); "over 5bn" payment transactions a year and ~$1.2tn of gross claims volume at IPO (company materials, reported); 2025 revenue $1,099.3m (+17%), adjusted EBITDA $462.1m (42%)
- Capital / valuation
- Bain merger (ZirMed at ~$750m reported, 2017); EQT and CPPIB majority stake at ~$2.7bn (2019); IPO raised $967.5m at $21.50 (~$3.7bn equity value, reported); market cap ~$5.2–5.5bn in autumn 2026 after a ~$45 peak in 2025 (reported)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Navicure–ZirMed merger (2017); EQT/CPPIB recapitalisation (2019); eSolutions Medicare deal (2020); Patientco and HealthPay24 patient payments (2021, 2023); Change Healthcare outage switching (2024); IPO after a delayed 2023 attempt (2024); AltitudeAI (2025); Iodine Software (2025); 2026 sell-off and strategic review
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2017
Navicure ZirMed Merger
Merger / founding of Waystar
2019
EQT CPPIB Recapitalization
Private-equity buyout (sponsor-to-sponsor sale)
2020
eSolutions Medicare Acquisition
Acquisition
2021
Patientco Patient Payments
Acquisition (two deals)
2024
Change Healthcare Outage Switching
Market event / go-to-market response
2024
Nasdaq IPO
IPO
2025
AltitudeAI Denial Automation
AI launch
2025
Iodine Software Acquisition
Acquisition
2026
AI Selloff and Strategic Review
Strategy reset / possible sale