Startup health insurer Oscar chose Tumblr as its social media venue of choice to announce that it raised $80 million in a Series A round. Forbes broke the story earlier today. It kind of makes sense since Oscar’s chief technology officer is Fredrik Nylander, who was vice president of engineering and operations at Tumblr.
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Among the selling points of the health insurer for New Yorkers are free generic drugs, free primary care visits, a physician locator to find providers without a referral and transparency tools so users have a better idea of the out-of-pocket costs they may face. The company was co-founded by Josh Kushner, managing partner and founder of Thrive Capital.
Although it faces a pretty daunting task of competing with the national payers, the financing it is attracting indicates that some investors see its potential as a disruptive force in health insurance. Joe Lonsdale of Formation8 led the Series A round. It also included Jim Breyer of Breyer Capital, Stan Druckenmiller, Founders Fund, Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst Partners, according to the statement.
It plans to use the funding to add staff and expand the business, according to the statement.
In a statement on the website it said:
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
“Our ambitions are significant and our intentions are good — but we are still learning. Our product can and will get better. Our customer experience will continue to improve. In short, we have a ways to go.”
Last year, Oscar raised $75 million and a little more than one third went to a capital reserve — a requirement for insurers in the state of New York.
