By Business & Finance 
Peter Foley, founder and CEO of LetsGetChecked, is the Business & Finance Business Person of the Month for August 2024, in association with KPMG.
Irish health testing start-up LetsGetChecked is planning to acquire US digital pharmacy provider Truepill.
Founded by Peter Foley in 2015, LetsGetChecked builds and delivers at-home testing kits including hormone tests, fertility tests, HPV tests and wellness tests for cholesterol and diabetes. The company reached unicorn status in 2021 following a $150m Series D funding round.
Peter Foley studied Bachelor of Laws, Medical and Company Law at Dublin Business School. The Dublin native then went on to complete a Masters in Management, Diagnostic Related Groups at University College Dublin.
Foley was Director of The Health Partnership for three years, from 2013 and in 2015 he founded LetsGetChecked.
The reasoning behind setting up the business stems from Foley’s intuitive initiative to remove the wait of getting necessary tests, taking the pressure off general practitioners. The company also permits customers to test cholesterol levels, hormone levels, and pre-screening for the presence of cancers.
As reported by the Business Insider, Foley revealed he was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 16. His diagnosis was delayed as doctors believed his pain was due to a rugby accident. Following months of check ups and constant hospital appointments, Foley was finally diagnosed correctly.
“They should have just done a scan on me at the time, and they just never bothered”, he explained. It was a “drawn-out process” when it “should have been a quick one”.
The company expanded with testing kits for COVID-19. LetsGetChecked raised $71 million (€65.4 million) in funding in May 2021 for the expansion. As reported by the Irish Independent, Foley explained “When the pandemic broke, it felt like we spent the last five years building the business just for this scenario. We are super fortunate we were in a position to help”.
Lets Get Checked is the main official partner of the Irish Olympic team, providing COVID-19 testing kits for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Pre-travel tests were provided to 260 athletes and staff prior to flying to Tokyo. Tests were also provided upon their return.
With his own income, Foley originally invested €80,000 into his venture. He was later granted €350,000 in seed capital, permitting at home orders. The kits cater for tests involving STIs, along with prostate and breast cancer tests. Further funds were raised in 2018 through Optum Ventures, a company which partners with “extraordinary entrepreneurs to fundamentally change healthcare”.
With over 600 staff members internationally and in Ireland, the company manufactures in both Ireland and the US, with laboratories located in both countries. Offices can be found in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, and New York, the United States.
The Business & Finance Awards
Business & Finance was launched in 1964 as Ireland’s premier business magazine. The Business & Finance Awards programme was established a decade later, in 1974, and has become Ireland’s longest-running and most coveted business awards programme. These prestigious awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of some of our most remarkable business leaders.
Submissions for this year’s awards are now open.
Business & Finance, Business Person of the Month
Business & Finance, in association with KPMG, recognises excellence in business through the ‘Business Person of the Month’ award. This award seeks to recognise noteworthy achievements in business leadership, and, particularly, those that make a telling contribution to the wider business community in Ireland.
