Healthcare services · Clinical staffing
DirectShifts
A New York software platform that tries to replace the traditional locum tenens and travel nursing agency with an app. Nine years in, it says it moves hundreds of thousands of clinicians and tens of millions of dollars in payroll, but its own numbers do not always agree with each other, and no funding filing backs up the totals it claims.
The pitch, restated in 2025 numbers
DirectShifts publishes a running scoreboard of its own platform. As of its 2025 year end recap, it says it processed $21.7 million in approved clinician payroll that year, bringing the total run through the platform since 2022 to more than $83 million. The average time for a clinician to sign a contract fell from 12.9 days in 2024 to 4.0 days in 2025, the company says, and shift fill rate rose to 54.1% with shifts worked up 155% over the prior year. Nearly 29,000 mobile app installs had accumulated by the end of the year, after 7,590 were added in 2025 alone.
None of those figures are independently audited, but they are specific, dated, and internally consistent, which is more than can be said for some of the other numbers on the site.
The problem it says it is solving
Traditional healthcare staffing runs through agencies and recruiters who work the phones, and hospitals often wait weeks for a submittal. DirectShifts markets itself as the alternative: an AI based matching engine, automated license and credential verification, and a marketplace of clinicians who can be placed faster and, the company says, more cheaply than the old model. Its site claims a 48 hour time to fill against an industry average it puts at two or more weeks. It has also branched into what Y Combinator's company listing describes as workforce infrastructure for telehealth companies: multi state licensing, payer enrollment, and collaborative physician supervision for advanced practice providers.
The founder and the team
DirectShifts was founded in 2017 by Sai Kumar Thumuluru, who holds a PhD and an MBA according to his own LinkedIn profile and Crunchbase listing; no source found in this research lists a medical degree for him. The company's own marketing nonetheless describes itself repeatedly as a team of physicians and entrepreneurs, without naming which executives hold clinical degrees. Vamshi Gunukula is listed as cofounder and chief operating officer, and Shrinath Aithal as chief technology officer, per the company's org chart on The Org. The legal entity behind the brand is FirstLocum Inc., the name that appears on Crunchbase, on New York State layoff filings, and on a New York State procurement vendor listing as "FirstLocum Inc. d/b/a DirectShifts."
A board upgrade, then a mass layoff notice
In November 2022, DirectShifts announced a strategic investment from Serent Capital, a growth equity firm that by its own count has backed more than 20 healthcare technology companies over the prior decade. The amount was not disclosed. Serent's Kevin Frick and John Caselli joined the DirectShifts board, along with two independent directors: Mike Metzger, former chief executive of Payscale and Raintree Systems, and Anita Pramoda, former chief financial officer of Epic EMR Systems. The release also stated that DirectShifts had been named a Top 10 Healthcare company by Smart Health, an award that appears nowhere else in this research.
Thirteen months later, the picture darkened. New York State's WARN layoff database shows seven separate notices filed under the name "Firstlocum Inc. d/b/a DirectShifts" between December 31, 2023 and January 2, 2024, covering 560 workers across New York City and Brooklyn addresses, with layoff dates of January 1, 2024. WARN notices from staffing companies can reflect the end of a client assignment rather than a shutdown of the core business, and DirectShifts kept operating and publishing new case studies afterward. But this research found no press release or company statement explaining what happened at the end of 2023.
What is proven, and what is still claimed
| Evidence | What the record shows | Source type |
|---|---|---|
| Y Combinator | DirectShifts is listed as a Y Combinator company on YC's own site. The specific batch season is not stated on the company's YC page or in any other source found in this research. | Public record |
| Serent Capital investment | Announced November 2, 2022. Amount not disclosed. Added four board members: two Serent partners and two independent directors with named prior roles at Payscale, Raintree, Epic EMR and elsewhere. | Wire release |
| SEC Form D | No Form D filing was found under "DirectShifts" or the legal name "FirstLocum" in the searches run for this profile, despite the company naming Serent Capital, Y Combinator, Soma Capital and Pioneer Fund as investors. | Not found |
| Total funding claimed | A company supplied listing on the recruiting site Cutshort states DirectShifts "raised more than $45 million" from Serent Capital, Y Combinator and Soma Capital. CB Insights, an independent data provider, separately tracks total raised at $150,000 as of late 2025. No SEC filing, on either figure, was found to confirm either number. | Conflicting |
| Clinician network size | DirectShifts' own pages disagree with each other: its December 2025 partnership release says "over 100,000 clinicians," its about page says "over 500,000 confirmed clinicians," and its staffing solutions page advertises "800,000+" and, elsewhere on the same page, "900,000+" vetted professionals. | Conflicting |
| 2025 platform metrics | Company reported: $21.7 million in approved clinician payroll processed in 2025, $83 million cumulative since 2022, 54.1% shift fill rate, average contract signing time of 4.0 days, and about 29,000 mobile app installs. | Company-stated |
| New York WARN filings | Seven notices filed under FirstLocum Inc. d/b/a DirectShifts, dated December 31, 2023 and January 2, 2024, covering 560 workers with layoff effective dates of January 1, 2024, at New York and Brooklyn locations. | Public record |
| Named customers | The company's case study pages describe "a leading health services company" and "a large health system" without naming either one. No named hospital or health system customer was found in this research. | Not found |
Read plainly: the operating story that DirectShifts tells about its own marketplace is detailed and consistent within itself. The corporate story is not. Its funding claim of more than $45 million has no matching SEC filing, its investor list has no Form D behind it, and its own marketing pages cannot agree on how many clinicians actually use the platform. A real institutional round from Serent Capital, at an undisclosed size, is the one funding event with independent confirmation.
What to watch
- Whether DirectShifts or FirstLocum ever files a Form D or any other SEC record that would confirm the size of its Serent Capital round or any later raise.
- Whether the company names an actual hospital, health system or telehealth customer instead of the anonymized accounts in its current case studies.
- Whether DirectShifts reconciles the 100,000 to 900,000 range in clinician network figures across its own site.
- What caused the 560 person WARN filings at the end of 2023, and whether headcount and client volume have since recovered.
In their words
“DirectShifts set out to modernize healthcare recruiting and staffing, and we are profoundly grateful to our network of clinicians and providers for the strides we have made to date. To continue to serve the healthcare ecosystem's growing needs for the workforce, we wanted a partner who shared our vision and excitement for the future.”
Sai Thumuluru, Founder and CEO, DirectShifts, November 2022 release · Company release
“We built a strong relationship with the Serent Team, and it became clear that not only did they deeply understand the healthcare market, but they also had the resources to help us scale and deliver even more value to our network of clinicians and providers.”
Sai Thumuluru, Founder and CEO, DirectShifts, November 2022 release · Company release
“Healthcare has been a core market for Serent since our founding, and we have a profound appreciation for the solution that Sai and the DirectShifts team have built.”
Kevin Frick, Partner, Serent Capital, November 2022 release · Investor
“We look forward to partnering with the company to continue driving innovation within healthcare staffing and, more broadly, work to increase the efficiency of our healthcare system.”
Kevin Frick, Partner, Serent Capital, November 2022 release · Investor
“Clinicians spend their lives caring for others, yet far too many struggle to access basic care for themselves.”
Sai Kumar Thumuluru, CEO, DirectShifts, December 2025 partnership announcement · Company release
“Healthcare professionals deserve care that's accessible, flexible, and built around their lives.”
Joseph Kitonga, CEO, Vitable Health, quoted in the December 2025 announcement · Partner
“DirectShifts helps telehealth and digital health companies build, launch, and scale nationwide clinical workforces.”
DirectShifts company description, Y Combinator company page · Company-stated
Related companies
Sources
- Wire releaseDirectShifts Secures Investment from Experienced Healthcare Tech Investor, Serent Capital
- Public recordDirectShifts Crunchbase organization profile, legal name FirstLocum Inc.
- Public recordFirstlocum Inc. d/b/a DirectShifts, 7 WARN layoff notices, 560 workers
- Public recordFirstLocum LLC dba DirectShifts, WARN notices 2023-0173 through 2023-0176
- IndependentDirectShifts company profile, funding total $150K, investor list
- IndependentDirectShifts: Workforce platform to recruit, license, credential and manage clinicians
- IndependentDirectShifts org chart, Sai Thumuluru, Vamshi Gunukula, Shrinath Aithal
- CompanyDirectShifts about us page
- CompanyDirectShifts healthcare staffing solutions page
- CompanyDirectShifts Benchmark: Healthcare Hiring Insights, 2025 metrics
- CompanyDirectShifts press and media page, no releases listed
- CompanyDirectShifts company listing, "raised more than $45 million" claim, US and India team
- IndependentDirectShifts partnership with Vitable Health, quotes from Sai Kumar Thumuluru and Joseph Kitonga
- Public recordDirectShifts BBB business profile, internet services category
Profile researched and written by Healthcare Discovery. Last updated September 29, 2026.
