Connie Health, a technology-enabled navigation platform for Medicare beneficiaries, has raised $13 million in a Series A funding round led Khosla Ventures and Pitango Healthtech.
In addition, the Boston-based company announced it is launching in Texas four months after beginning operations in Arizona.
Established in 2019, Connie Health offers Medicare beneficiaries an artificial intelligence-driven platform that helps them find the right Medicare plan for their needs, identify physicians available to them and navigate their plans’ benefits, said Oded Eran, co-founder and CEO of the company. The platform provides users access to a plan recommendation engine and local experts in the Medicare market.
“While there has been major innovation in Medicare Advantage and value-based care, creating numerous plan and provider options, there has been less innovation in helping consumers navigate these options along with understanding novel concepts such as value-based care, digital health, telehealth, and more,” Eran said, in an email.
Consumer surveys bear this out. About 30% of Medicare beneficiaries overall said the program was somewhat or very difficult to understand, according to a 2020 survey by Kaiser Family Foundation.
Connie Health will use the new funds to improve its recommendations technology further and expand its local agent network in Arizona and Texas. The company also plans to launch in Illinois this year and continue its national expansion through 2022, Eran said.
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.
The latest financing round brings the total amount of funding raised by the company to $16 million. The January 2020 seed round and current Series A also saw participation by Abstract Ventures, Dynamic Loop Capital, Arkitekt Ventures, as well as angel investments from Assaf Wand (founder and CEO of Hippo Insurance), Zach Weinberg and Nat Turner (founders of Flatiron Health).
Several companies are rising to meet Medicare beneficiaries’ needs regarding plan navigation, including ehealth, SelectQuote and GoHealth. But Connie Health differentiates itself from its competitors by offering consumers the choice to enroll in a way that suits them, whether it be online, by phone with a local agent or by having an agent visit their home, Eran said.
“Our Medicare agents are local to the communities that they service, and they understand the local Medicare system and hospital networks,” he said. “This enables them to recommend where consumers can receive optimal care.”
Eran, along with his co-founders David Luna and Michael Scopa, started Connie Health with years of experience in the Medicare market under their belts. They previously helped build Iora Health, a Medicare-focused primary care startup that was recently acquired by One Medical for $2.1 billion.
Photo: drogatnev, Getty Images
