Amwell was founded by two brothers who were both doctors, and it spent fourteen years waiting for the world to want video visits. Ido and Roy Schoenberg started it in Boston in 2006. For most of that time, patients and insurers saw telehealth as a curiosity. Then the pandemic closed doctors' offices, and video visits became normal in a few weeks. Amwell went public in September 2020, at the height of that rush.

Selling to the Hospitals

Ido and Roy Schoenberg founded American Well in 2006. Their bet was that hospitals and insurers, more than patients, would pay for telehealth. Amwell sold them the software to run video visits under their own names. It also ran its own network of doctors for urgent care. That made Amwell the plumbing behind many health systems' virtual care, while rival Teladoc built a bigger consumer brand.

A $742 Million Debut

Amwell priced an upsized IPO at $18 a share on September 16, 2020, and raised $742 million. Google invested another $100 million at the same price. The stock began trading on the NYSE as AMWL the next day and closed at $23.07, up 28 percent. Demand for video visits fell after the pandemic, and the shares slid. In 2026 the Defense Health Agency moved to give Amwell a sole-source contract, and Amwell still trades on the NYSE.

Cover: Woman at a Well, Charles Émile Jacque. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a well (Amwell, "I am well").