New $225M Funding Round Drives Oscar’s Plan To Simplify Health Care

Health insurance company Oscar said Friday it raised $225 million in a new funding round.

Subscribe to the Crunchbase Daily

Existing investors, including Alphabet, General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, Lakestar and Thrive Capital, participated in the round, along with new investors Baillie Gifford and Coatue, the company said in a written statement.

New York-based Oscar has raised a total of $1.5 billion since it was co-founded in 2012 by Mario Schlosser and Joshua Kushner, according to Crunchbase data. Kushner is the founder of Thrive Capital, and brother of senior White House adviser, Jared Kushner. The company’s last fundraise happened two years ago, when the company brought in a combined $540 million through two deals: a corporate round led by Alphabet and a venture round led by Founders Fund.

The company touts itself as the first direct-to-consumer health insurance company, with more than 420,000 members across its individual, Medicare Advantage and small group products available in 15 states and 29 U.S. markets.

The new funding will help advance Oscar’s strategy of simplifying health care and reaching a $2 billion revenue base by the end of the year, the company said.

“Transforming the health insurance experience requires the creation of personalized, affordable experiences at scale,” Schlosser said in a written statement. “At Oscar, we combine our full-stack technology platform and data-driven approach to deliver seamless care that meets members where they are. We have created an experience that feels like you have a doctor in the family. This funding enables us to further accelerate the development of our unique model while creating efficiencies and cost-savings.”

The new capital also comes on the heels of an announcement Oscar and Cigna made earlier this week about their co-branded health plan, as reported by Fierce Healthcare. The Cigna + Oscar Health chose Atlanta, the San Francisco Bay area, and across Tennessee as the first markets for the plans, aimed at small businesses, which will launch later this year.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias