While Ro co-founder and CEO Zachariah Reitano says he'd "never say never" when asked if the 7-year-old telehealth company may go public, he believes the benefits of staying a private company are growing.

Reitano repeatedly avoided taking a question from Axios reporter Dan Primack on whether or not the company has near-term — or near-term-ish, really — plans to IPO. He did so again at Axios' BFD event on October 22.

I may give an unsatisfying answer, but the truth is, we are absolutely focused in this moment solely on delivering the highest-quality product to our patients, Reitano said.

Ro has raised more than $1 billion in venture capital from investors such as General Catalyst, Initialized Capital, and Torch Capital, among others. Ro most recently raised $150 million in a round led by ShawSpring Partners and valued the company at approximately $6.6 billion.

Reitano's experience is likely far from unique; later-stage founders are probably only too aware of the same PitchBook data showing venture-backed companies staying private longer. Another reason why companies are choosing to stay private is that the secondaries market is becoming increasingly more common means of providing liquidity for investors and employees -- although most of the activity centers around a few companies.

He also touched on the company's big "uncomfortable bet" on weight loss drugs that started to come on the platform in 2023. Ro was founded in 2017 by Rob Schutz, Saman Rahmanian, and Reitano as a telehealth company focused on erectile dysfunction. Its roster of more men's and women's health categories eventually grew to include hair growth, fertility, and skin health. But now it has become famous as a provider of multiple GLP-1s options.

Reitano said the company started developing the program in 2021, once it moved a large percentage of its resources into the category. It's currently one of the fastest-growing categories of the business.

Those things have never happened in any drug category, and so from our point of view, the prevalence and extensive use of GLP-1s is inevitable, says Reitano.

He also said the expansion was natural at the time for the company as conditions such as obesity affect many of the other health categories that the company focuses on, including fertility and sexual health conditions like erectile dysfunction.