October 7, 2019
These up-and-coming startups are looking to take on health insurance
These are companies that have only raised a seed round so far
Vator will be holding its latest healthcare salon, called The Future of Health Insurance, on Nov. 14. (Get tickets here!) and one of the things we often do at our events is promote some of the up and coming companies by giving them a platform to pitch to the entrepreneurs, healthcare executives and investors in the audience.
After all, while some of the big insurance companies are leading in terms of innovation, it's often the young companies, the scrappy newcomers, who point to the future of a space. They are seizing on the opportunities they see out in the market and, one day, they will be the incumbents who succeeded by betting on where it was going.
We've already covered some of the top companies disrupting the health insurance space, but these are some of the companies in the health insurance space who have only raised a seed round so far:
Founded: 2018
Description: Decent has health plans for self-insured people. It offers free primary care as part of all of its health plans, with same-day, half-hour long appointments and 24/7 direct telephone access to the doctor. All of that is 100% included in their monthly premium.
All of our plans also have a Virtual Direct Primary Care (VDPC) option, which allows patients to facetime with their doctor and get everything from a referral to a prescription right there.
The company also has bronze and silver plans, which have lower deductibles and more co-pays before the deductible is reached.
Decent is currently only available in Austin, Texas.
Amount raised: $8 million
Investors: Maverick Ventures Israel, Joshua Jeffries, Digital Currency Group, Serge Kassardjian, Abstract Ventures, Healthy Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Ride Ventures, Luis Robles, Guy Marion
Founded: 2012
Description: Exhale offers its members one-on-one access to an industry veteran who is assigned to help them navigate their healthcare, including things like insurance enrollment and medicare transition. The Exhale expert can also help patients save on non-emergency tests or procedures, lower their prescription drug prices, make sense of mystery medical bills or denials of claims and services or even answer uestions about coverage.
Members can pay as they go: basic services cost $75 per hour, while Medicare services cost $90 per hour. Or they can sign up for an annual membership For $240, which includes four hours of personal Exhale Expert assistance, available to you throughout the year. Additional hours are $55 per hour.
Amount raised: $300,000
Investors: Health Wildcatters
Founded: Undisclosed
Description: JAUNTIN’ enables insurers to distribute scalable on-demand micro-insurance to their policyholders, either directly, or through brokers or platforms. The company says it can work with almost any type of insurance product, and is most experienced in travel insurance. In September, it launched on-demand health program, called BasiCare Plus (BCx), specifically designed for freelance, gig economy, or self-employed workers who do not qualify for health insurance under an employer-employee relationship.
JAUNTIN’ allows for policy information, contact information and activation of policy to all be accessible via mobile device.
Insurance companies can use it collect things like location data on their customers, which can be optimized to provide competitive pricing, as well as better risk data, and it allows users to turn their insurance on and off with a swipe of the finger on their mobile device screen.
Amount raised: $400,000
Investors: Global Insurance Accelerator
Founded: 2017
Description: Flume Health runs health plans for teams who want to provide care at the best price for their workforce, using software and experts.
Customers can view their expected plan spend, manage vendors, and view reports on their plan's performance in real time.
The company also offers Flume Pay, which automatically negotiates time-of-service payments on behalf of its members before they book an appointment. When a provider discharges a patients with a referral, the system then automatically negotiates time-of-service payments with the referred physician and facility. The Flume concierge team directly contacts the member to let them know the appointment is eligible for Flume Pay, and the member then has not out of pocket costs.
Amount raised: $4.2 million
Investors: Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, Founder Collective, Primary Venture Partners, Accomplice
Founded: 2018
Description: Trusty provides AI-driven insights and care & benefits navigation tools. Its products contain 35,000 different Medicare plans, more than 60,000 pharmacies, and over 10,000 prescription drugs.
One of its products is Trusty Select for Medicare, which connects members to the Medicare plan that covers their medications, doctors, and specific health needs at the lowest out-of-pocket costs. Starting in 2020 it will also provide Trusty Select for ACA & Medicaid, which will help members establish their eligibility, costs, and determines the best insurance product to purchase.
Amount raised: $800,000
Investors: StartUp Health, The Fund, Esther Dyson, 37 Angels, Walter Winshall, Gaingels, Eclectic Fund
Founded: 2015
Description: Medxoom helps companies and their employees save at least 10 on healthcare through pricing, payment & mobile CRM solutions.
Its provides a member portal with access to member/dependent benefits and healthcare services, with features that include:
- Coverage & digital member ID cards
- Profile information
- Claims/Electronic EOBs
- Automatically tracks expenses and progress towards deductible, out of pocket
- API integrations with PBM, Tele-health, HSA, Dental, Vision, etc.
Amount raised: $3.2 million
Investors: Lattice Ventures, TTV Capital, Las Olas Venture Capital
Founded: 2017
Description: PerfectQuote provides insurance brokers and insurance carriers real-time data to reduce spend, lower premiums, and improve overall employee health. With PerfectQuote, brokers can shop for plans, perform contribution analysis, and renew clients right from our platform.
One of its products, PerfectQuote ACA, lets brokers upload their census and request small group medical quotes in seconds, while its flagship PerfectQuote product gives its members everything they get with PerfectQuote ACA, plus small, medium, and large group medical, dental, vision, life, and disability products.
Its third products, PerfectQuote VBX, allows broker firms to sell insurance directly to customers by leveraging AI and decision support. This allows business owners to shop and compare hundreds of group health plans in seconds, while guiding them to the perfect quote with the best benefits and lowest price.
Amount raised: $1.1 million
Investors: Sidekick Fund, Quake Capital Partners, Walnut Street Capital Fund
Founded: 2013
Description: The Arevo solution collects and analyzes expense data from multiple plan vendors, the employer, and employees to allow employers to manage their health benefit spend.
Arevo’s data analytics platform gives employers with self-funded plans a platform to manage their health plan, vendors and track ROI of all initiatives. Employees and dependents get access to the Arevo Mobile App, which allows them to track their rewards and earned incentives, see healthcare pricing and reviews, and see individual-specific plan benefit information.
Amount raised: $900,000
Investors: Undisclosed
Founded: 2016
Description: Insightin Health's platform combines medical, clinical, cognitive, and social determinants of health (SDOH) to create an actionable consumer insight for The Next Best Action (NBA) for healthcare life cycle experience delivery.
Amount raised: $3.5 million
Investors: Health Catalyst Capital, Revolution, TCP Venture Capital, SaaS Ventures, Paul Silber, Scott Garber
Founded: 2015
Description: Wellsbi is a digital health insurance benefits platform that allows for tracking benefits, coverages and claims, in one place, in real–time. Members can track their care history, and access their insurance card on their phone. They also can check in to their doctor's office with their mobile device.
Wellsbi will create a step-by-step approach to get patients in control of their health plan benefits, teaching them the basics of PPOs, FSAs, EOBs, SBCs and other healthcare jargon. The company will also break down claims and explain who owes who what, and why.
Amount raised: $20,000
Investors: Blueprint Health
Founded: 2017
Description: Enroll Hero helps individuals find and enroll in the right Medicare plan. It has a team of software experts who have created a technique to match each individual with a Medicare plan and our licensed experts quickly answer any questions that may arise.
Its technique calculates patient costs across the Advantage, Supplement, and Prescription Drug plan available in their area to match them with the right ones. Each person gets a licensed expert to help them to understand their options.
Members do not pay Enroll Hero; instead the company is contracted with many of the major health insurance companies and receive a commission when it helps someone enroll in a plan.
Amount raised: Undisclosed
Investors: Techstars, Mucker Capital
(Image source: news.unl.edu)
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