The Los Angeles fintech approves about nine of ten shoppers for the purchases nobody plans for - car repairs, root canals, new glasses, the dog's surgery - and charges no fees of any kind. Here is how a rejected loan application became a billion-dollar company.
PatientFi is a healthcare fintech that lets patients pay for elective medical treatments over time through simple monthly payment plans. Its point-of-sale platform partners with medical practices - across plastic surgery, dermatology, dentistry, ophthalmology, fertility and medical spas - to offer instant, soft-credit-check financing so patients can afford care without upfront strain, while practices grow revenue. Headquartered in Irvine, California, the company markets itself as 'The Friendly Way to Pay.'
Todd Watts is the co-founder and CEO of PatientFi, an Irvine, California fintech that lets patients pay for elective and out-of-pocket healthcare in monthly installments at the point of care. Since starting the company in 2017, he has built a platform that has helped roughly 320,000 patients qualify for more than $3 billion in care across aesthetics, fertility, dentistry, ophthalmology and audiology, reaching a $140 million annual revenue run rate and 130 employees. A former J.P. Morgan investment banker with a Yale MBA, Watts was named an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 Pacific Southwest winner.

Chris Boudreaux is a fintech professional and co-founder associated with Cherry (withcherry.com), a San Francisco-based healthcare financing platform trusted by over 60,000 medical providers across the United States. Cherry enables patients to access flexible, interest-free payment plans for elective medical procedures - dental, plastic surgery, medspas, and veterinary care - while giving providers same-day upfront payment. Based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Boudreaux operates at the intersection of financial technology and healthcare access, helping expand Cherry's reach across the healthcare provider ecosystem.