Hims & Hers Health, the SF-based telehealth startup founded by Andrew Dudum, just kicked $1 million to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, perhaps because they’re concerned about the administration’s future plans when it comes to mail-order drugs.
Much like the CEOs of Meta, Alphabet, and Amazon all showed up to kiss the ring at Trump’s second inauguration, after giving considerable sums to help get Trump get elected, Hims & Hers Health and its CEO Andrew Dudum have a stake in the new administration’s views toward their business.
A so-called digital health startup, Hims & Hers emerged in 2016, first focused on easy access to erectile dysfunction drugs for men, but soon expanding into the worlds of hair loss for women and men, anxiety medications, and now the weight-loss medications known as GLP-1s. As CNBC reported, Hims & Hers became a breakout star in the digital healthcare space in 2024, in a year when similar companies like GoodRx and Teladoc were taking a beating following the highs of mid-pandemic demand.
Thus, as Axios first reported, Hims & Hers wants a leg up with the new administration, with the looming possibility that RFK Jr., who generally is skeptical of medications and vaccines, could launch some sort of crackdown or regulations that negatively impact the digital health space. As CNBC notes, RFK has already said in a recent interview that while GLPs may “have a place” in the system, the “first line of response” to obesity should be lifestyle changes.
Dudum and his company donated $1 million earlier this month to the Trump inauguration fund, a donation which likely guaranteed them some sort of dinner or sit-down with Trump and JD Vance during the inauguration celebrations. (Update: Indeed, Dudum tweeted a photo from an inauguration event showing Hims & Hers COO Melissa Baird posing with RFK Jr., with the caption, “Our shared commitment with @POTUS, @RobertKennedyJr, and other leaders to address the US obesity epidemic will help millions of Americans with the chronic conditions too many are struggling with. Let’s start addressing the root causes of conditions like obesity and put the power back in the hands of the individual patient.”)
Hims & Hers offered only this statement: “At Hims & Hers, we stand with leaders and advocates who are committed to improving America’s broken healthcare system. For far too long, this system has forced Americans to struggle — financially and with limited access — to get essential medications and the care they need, especially for stigmatized conditions.”
As first noted in the Found SF newsletter, Dudum and his wife Lea Dudum are the backers behind George’s Donuts & Merriment, the swanky new doughnut shop, cafe, and wine bar that just opened two weeks ago in West Portal. The chef-partner and doughnut maestro is Spruce and Bacchus Group pastry veteran, Janina O’Leary. And the namesake of the place is George Cawog, Andrew Dudum’s Palestinian grandfather, who ran a launderette in Oakland for many years and liked to take his grandchildren next door for doughnuts.
Correction: An earlier version of this article suggested that Dudum had personally given the donation to Trump’s inaugural committee. A representative for Dudum clarifies, “Andrew Dudum never donated to the Trump inauguration. A donation was made by [Hims & Hers], a public company, but it did not come from Andrew Dudum.”
Related: It’s the Biden Administration’s Fault That Big Tech Embraced Trump, Says Marc Andreessen
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