- HQ
- California, USA
- Company size
- 51-200
- Funding raised
- $10.8M
- Lead investors
- Hearst Ventures, Perceptive Equity, and Royal Street Ventures
- Team location
- Eastern Europe
- Cooperation time
- 4 years
- Product
- Dynamic patient intake and outcomes platform
- Notable clients
- Pfizer, Cigna, VA, NewYork-Presbyterian, Providence, and Mass General Brigham
TONIC HEALTH: Full-fledged R&D office with employer branding
Tonic Health is a US-based patient intake and healthcare data platform serving enterprise health systems and replacing paper clinic workflows. Founded in 2010, Tonic Health raised $10.8 million in funding. The company was later acquired by R1 RCM, and in November 2025, Luma Health acquired Tonic from R1 – expanding Luma’s reach to more than 1,000 health systems and 100 million patients.
Issue
Tonic Health had been using a traditional outsourcing that delivered developers, but with familiar trade-offs: limited team visibility, reduced control over processes, and engineers who shipped features without owning outcomes.
The goal was to stop renting development capacity and build own software R&D team in Ukraine – one that worked directly for Tonic, aligned with its values, and embedded in the product.
But starting from zero exposed three hard blockers.
No legal presence meant no entity to employ engineers, no compliant payroll structure, and no clear framework for tax obligations – a months-long problem to solve from scratch.
No recognizable employer brand meant offer rejections, even when the role and compensation were right – the target of 5-6 hires per month stayed out of reach.
No local hiring infrastructure meant a pipeline of irrelevant CVs instead of vetted senior engineers who could fill roles on time and stay for the long run.
Solving all three simultaneously while running a product development required extra headcount to cope with the admin chaos. Tonic chose a different path.
Solution
Alcor took on the full scope of building Tonic’s Ukrainian R&D center.
Visibility came first. Alcor built Tonic’s employer brand in Ukraine via social media and crafted an EVP grounded in market-relevant salaries and benefits. This positioned Tonic as a credible employer before the first role opened.
Recruitment followed a deliberate approach: targeted sourcing from Alcor’s 325K-candidate database, personalized outreach, and pre-screening for real-world technical capability and cultural fit. It resulted in focused shortlists where 80% of CVs met Tonic’s expectations.
On the legal and operational side, Alcor structured the employment framework and handled full compliance setup, saving Tonic over a month in establishing its own legal entity. Alcor also negotiated the office lease and sourced equipment, so Tonic’s leadership never spent a day on local vendor management.
Once the team was live, Alcor consolidated all admin into a single monthly process – one partner, one invoice, zero headaches.
RESULTS:
Build Your AI Engineering Team in 30 Days
No vendor chaos. 0 compliance risk. No more recruiting delays.
Alcor Helped Build the Foundation for Everything That Followed
Tonic raises $10M+ in total funding across 6 funding rounds
Alcor builds Tonic’s software R&D team in Ukraine
SCI Solutions acquires Tonic Health
R1 RCM acquires SCI Solutions, bringing Tonic Health into R1’s portfolio
Luma Health acquires Tonic from R1 and expands the company’s footprint to 1,000+ health systems and 100M patients served
Use our calculator to estimate your team budget before any conversations starts
Clients Love Us. Teams Do Too.
“The Alcor team has always been supportive and approachable whenever assistance was needed. Rather than feeling like an external resource, engineers working through Alcor are able to integrate closely with the client’s teams. This creates a more collaborative environment and allows engineers to have a greater impact.”
“My overall experience has been outstanding. Alcor’s model offered the right balance — strong operational support combined with genuine ownership and long-term collaboration. In this model, I am a core member of the team. Rather than rotating between projects, I can invest meaningfully in improving the product and establishing processes that deliver lasting value.”
“Whenever I’ve had tricky bank requests or needed extra documentation, Alcor has resolved everything rapidly. I also love their support with business trips and expense tracking—it’s incredibly convenient. Their team is always available via messenger and ready to help. Highly recommended for anyone who wants a hassle-free professional life!”
“Alcor has been a reliable partner throughout, especially in complex situations. Issues are resolved quickly — often within minutes or hours. Their ability to adapt and support us in complex situations has made a real difference for our team.”
