The Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRAS) for Personal Coverage is continuing to gain benefits from employers and investors. The $20 million Series A season announced by Venteur on Tuesday is another example.
San Francisco-based Venteur helps employers manage the ICHRA program, where employers provide employees with pre-tax funds to purchase health insurance. Venteur's AI platform also provides employee advice to help them choose benefits, and they can develop their own personalized health plans that suit their needs. These personalizations are based on age, gender, postal code, prescription, risk profile, and more. The company has served 600 businesses, from a few to 5,000 employees.
The $20 million round of funding was led by informed risk and U.S. Family Venture Capital, including involvement by the Morgan Department of Health, Wellstar, Ingeborg Investments, Plun & Plun and Plun and Plun, Techstars, Revelry Venture Partners and Houghton Street Ventures. Overall, Venteur raised $30 million.
“Venteur is revolutionizing how businesses provide health benefits, thus making personalized health insurance more accessible and sustainable through ICHRA,” said Amanda Joseph, head of the U.S. home business company, in a statement. “Their technology-oriented approach empowers companies and employees to meet critical needs in today’s growing workforce.”
Financing will help Venteur enhance its platform, attract more businesses and leverage AI to improve efficiency, according to the announcement.
The announcement was released as health care costs rose. Since 2004, the average annual premium for household coverage has increased by 314%. Ichras offers the potential to reduce costs, especially for small employers. They also offer employees more healthcare options as they are able to choose the health benefits that best suit them.
“Our healthcare system has become unbearable and inaccessible, not only to individuals, but to businesses,” the company's co-founder and CEO Stacy Edgar said in an email. “From a cost perspective, universal health plans are burdened by organizations of all sizes and present major guardrails and limitations in any individual employee's ability to seek care capabilities specifically to meet their unique needs. We restore power to the hands of individuals and, with greater flexibility and ownership, breathing space can be provided through a more affordable model.”
Venteur is not the only company that meets the rising demand for Ichras. Other companies that help employers manage Ichras include Remodel Health and StretchDollar, which also recently announced funding.
When asked about Venteur’s future goals, Edgar said it was all about scale.
“From the early stages to the enterprise, we have successfully verified the concept of businesses of all sizes, and now we are investing in resources to expand our reach,” Edgar said. “In addition to promoting affordability and accessibility to the healthcare sector, we also need systems and models that give employees complete control over their healthcare decisions, thus fully fulfilling their employer responsibilities.”
Images: Feodora Chiosea, Getty Images
