Healthcare navigation platform HealthJoy has won $60 million in Series D funding, raising a total of more than $108 million, the company announced announced Thursday.
Based in Chicago HealthJoy — which primarily serves employers as well as third-party brokers and administrators — offers a mobile platform that helps connect employees to their benefits. There is also a concierge team to answer questions when needed.
The funding round was led by Valspring Capital. Other investors of the company include Endeavor Vision, CIBC Innovation Banking and US Venture Partners.
Valspring Capital chose to invest in HealthJoy because it is tackling a major pain point in the health benefits space: minimal understanding of the benefits available to employees, said Aneesha Mehta, co-founder of Valspring Capital.
“We are excited to invest in HealthJoy and accelerate the impressive growth of their platform. As users of health technology, we really identified with a major problem that HealthJoy was struggling with: a severe lack of awareness of the benefits, resulting in underutilization by employees,” Mehta said in a news release. “Offering a solution that simplifies benefits is a key factor in the talent war the market is in right now. We look forward to expanding HealthJoy’s solutions as we have seen the value they bring firsthand.”
HealthJoy will use the funding for continued growth, said Justin Holland, the company’s CEO and co-founder. Additionally, it will work to advance and innovate its technology offerings, he added.
“Our focus is profitability with this round of funding, and that will come through growth and continued investment and innovation,” Holland said in an interview. “So we’re going to continue to grow across almost all of our teams, but we know where we’re going to have the biggest impact is within our innovation suite.” [We’re going to] continue to ensure that our technology team is well equipped to continue to tackle this incredibly challenging problem.”
A merger or acquisition is not something HealthJoy is currently considering, Holland said. However, he did not provide further details on the company’s exit strategy.
“If we’re lucky enough at some point where it makes sense, we can do this new challenge that we’re taking on,” he said. “But we’re not thinking about that today.”
The company’s app starts with a chatbot called JOY that can answer questions and direct them to specialists if needed. The app includes services such as medical consultations, help finding local providers and medical bill reviews.
“Today, HR and the broker have basically built their own virtual network of services … The issue is engagement in these products, and it’s a huge burden on HR and the broker to execute the strategy in them,” Holland said. “This is where we really see what HealthJoy’s work is. How do we make the execution of the overall health plan strategy easier for HR and the broker?”
When it was founded in 2014, the platform was originally intended for consumers, but switched to employers in 2016. It now serves more than 1,000 companies, including LendingTree, Bustle, and Vivint.
Other healthcare companies include Recognition, Quantum Health and lights up.
Photo: HealthJoy