The Australian telehealth industry, worth AUD $1.7 billion, just received a seismic shock. Telehealth company Hims & Hers plans to acquire Australian digital health company Eucalyptus. It appears that the main reason for this blockbuster acquisition is for Hims and Hers to find a legal workaround to American regulations, particularly regarding the sale of GLP-1s.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Hims & Hers operates a direct-to-consumer health and wellness platform offering services and support for sexual health, weight loss, hair and skin, primary care, mental health, and more. Eucalyptus operates consumer-focused virtual clinics and brands, including weight-loss clinic Juniper, men’s health service Pilot, fertility and reproductive care platform Kin, and others.
The transaction, announced Thursday, values Eucalyptus at $1.15 billion, according to a news release. $240 million is due at closing, and the remainder will be paid out through 2029 in deferred and performance-based earnouts. Through the deal, Hims & Hers enters the Australian and Japanese markets and expands its presence in the U.K., Germany, and Canada. To date, Eucalyptus has served about 775,000 customers.
Hims & Hers’ pending acquisition of the Australian company Eucalyptus enhances both companies’ market share and reach in men’s and women’s health services, including weight management and dermatology. Both are laser-focused on affordable personalized health care. For Australians, especially low-income residents, the recent increases in Medicare-funded telehealth programs continue to rise, with bulk billing payments enabling more Australians to receive telehealth care, including timely telemedicine, for an array of issues, including mental health.
The Impact on the Australian Telehealth Sector
In Australia alone, the telehealth industry is projected to reach AUD $3.3 billion by 2033. The massive increase continues to be the growing demand from rural Australians, who can better maintain follow-up appointments and more frequent checkups. It remains to be seen what the immediate impact will be for Australian telehealth providers. Major telehealth review sites like Medicompare expertly break down the strengths of the major providers to help first-time Australians with online GP appointment booking.
One major hurdle to the pending acquisition is a lawsuit that Hims & Hers is facing from Novo Nordisk. The point of contention is apparently that the drugs Hims & Hers sells are compounded versions of GLP-1s. They are custom GLP-1s that are not currently approved by the FDA in the United States. Many of these injectables are considered too dangerous for public consumption. As a result, the lawsuit has hurt Hims & Hers stock.
Terms of the deal state that approximately $240 million will be paid to Eucalyptus upon acquisition close, with the remaining $915 million to be paid out over time through 2029 as deferred and performance-based earnouts. Hims & Hers said it expects to close the transaction by mid-2026.
Eucalyptus co-founder and CEO Tim Doyle stands to make $160 million from the sale, but will remain as the liaison for Hims & Hers international operations as senior vice president of the international division. Andrew Dudum, the CEO of Hims & Hers, had this to say about the pending merger:
“This acquisition allows us to instantly create a diversified international platform for our company. With Eucalyptus, we will not only enter new markets, but we will also expand our ability to serve customers globally, trusting local experts to be a key part of how we transform healthcare into a customer-first, personalized industry.”
