Brella Insurance Inc., a technology-driven health insurer, raised $15 million in a Series A funding round.
Led by Brewer Lane Ventures, the round included new investor Fidelity Security Life Insurance Company as well as existing investors SymphonyAI, Digitalis Ventures and Two Sigma Ventures.
Brella provides supplemental health insurance, with deductibles starting at $15 a month. It adds to traditional health insurance by providing cash to members if they are diagnosed with any one of more than 13,000 covered conditions, said Veer Gidwaney, founder and CEO of the company, in an email.
Members can use the money for anything that supports them during treatment, from medical bills to transportation or groceries, he added. This approach differs from other instruments intended to help patients pay for healthcare, like health savings accounts, which can only be used for qualified medical expenses.
Founded in 2019, Brella has since raised over $22 million. With the funds from the latest financing round, the company plans to expand nationwide and grow distribution through strategic partnerships, Gidwaney said.
It is no secret that the cost of healthcare is rising exponentially. A staggering 46 million people — nearly one-fifth of all Americans — cannot afford necessary healthcare services, according to a February survey. Unexpected medical bills have worsened the situation, with about 20% of Americans saying they would need to borrow from family or friends or take out a personal loan to pay a surprise $1,000 medical bill, a survey conducted in December shows.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Brella Insurance aims to help ease the burden of these kinds of financial shocks, Gidwaney said.
“Though most large insurance companies have supplemental health products like accident plans, critical illness policies or hospital indemnity plans, Brella’s plan is different because we don’t have accident or hospitalization requirements, and we cover three times more conditions than accident and critical illness plans combined,” he said.
Brella divides its covered conditions list into three categories, with different payout amounts assigned to each one. The categories are moderate, which includes conditions like simple fractures and dehydration; severe, including appendicitis and pulmonary embolism; and catastrophic, which includes malignant lung cancer and heart attacks. The payouts range from $200 to $10,000 and do not include pre-existing condition limitations.
In addition to the capital raised, Brewer Lane Venture’s Founder and Managing Partner John Kim will join Brella’s board of directors, the payer announced.
Photo: abluecup, Getty Images
