Insuring Startups: Angle Health Lands $4M Seed For Insurance Plans

Health insurance carrier Angle Health closed $4 million in seed funding to advance its tech platform. The company offers comprehensive health care plans for startups.

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The 1-year-old company was founded in San Francisco by Tylon Wang, who had previously worked for Palantir before leaving late last year to start Angle, he told Crunchbase News. The full-stack health insurance carrier combines research-backed digital and behavioral health programs with an integrated data infrastructure and machine learning.

“The startup demographic is the most progressive for the adoption of technology and expects a better experience, especially for health insurance,” Wang said. “Big insurance carriers have infrastructure that is siloed and fragmented so they can’t give a 360-degree view of patients.”

Blumberg Capital led the seed investment with participation from Y Combinator, Correlation Ventures, TSVC, Liquid 2 Ventures and several smaller funds and angel investors.

The new cash infusion will be used to complete Angle Health’s regulatory filing and build out the member platform, which will include a mobile application and products for members and providers such as greater accessibility to medical services, including primary and urgent care, mental health, chronic disease management and reproductive health, Wang said.

What you should know

Angle Health has eight employees and is growing, Wang said.

“We are still an early-stage company, and we plan on ramping up quickly, but the turning point will be when we launch plans and coverage,” he added. “At that point, we will be running full health plan operations alongside engineering and product areas.”

Angle Health is joining other health insurance startups that have attracted investor dollars. Most recently, we covered Oscar raising $225 million in a new funding round in June. Last year, Sidecar Health secured an $18 million round of funding, while Bright Health raised $625 million, according to Crunchbase data.

What investors have to say

David Blumberg, founder and managing partner at Blumberg Capital, said in a written statement that his firm is attracted to Angle Health because of its focus on the underserved market of startups.

“The growth potential for Angle Health is massive,” Blumberg added. “Technological advances are making medical services ever more accessible through easy access digital offerings, telemedicine and virtual healthcare. Angle Health will deliver the flexible, mobile-first, health care benefits that startups seek at affordable prices.”

Next steps for Angle Health

Wang expects to complete regulatory filings and launch Angle Health’s insurance product in 2021.

The global pandemic forcing people to work remotely has opened up opportunities in markets such as Austin, Chicago and Salt Lake City, said Wang. These cities weren’t previously on the company’s radar.

In the meantime, the company will work to refine its member products and continue to build a seamless user experience so that members can submit claims as easy as taking a photo with their phone.

In the longer term, the company wants to expand into new markets and add members outside of the startup demographic.

“Startups are just the beginning because they are the ideal members willing to adopt things, such as same-day prescription delivery, but eventually we will expand into other groups, such as enterprise,” Wang said. “We are also looking forward to scaling with our startups as they grow and going into other business lines, such as individual and family plans.”

Illustration: Dom Guzman