Spanish banking giant BBVA’s venture capital fund Propel Ventures is investing in US-based inusrtech startup Hixme.
The $14.1m Series B round also attracted Transamerica Ventures and Rosemark Capital as well as existing backer Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers.
Hixme’s develops a platform for employee benefits designed to offer more-personalised insurance packages than group plans by allowing employees to buy directly from insurers.
This offers employers more flexibility and means they can avoid negotiating group plans with carriers each year.
Under the US’ Affordable Care Act employers must pay for a plan but employees have the freedom to choose what plan.
Company CEO Denny Weinberg said, “Our core mission is to help individuals and organizations more creatively manage the financial risks associated with healthcare by redefining ‘coverage’ to be more than just health insurance.”
The round brings Hixme’s total funding to $24.6m.
It says the new capital will go into sales efforts to expand its geographic presence to all 50 US states.
The investment is Propel Venture’s second in a insurtech startup having previously invested in home insurer Hippo.
The fund was spun out of BBVA in Feburary this year with $250m to invest in fintech startups, $150m of which is devoted to US companies.
It comes as part of the Spanish firm’s efforts to keep abreast with developments in the fintech space as startups begin to encroach on its core services.
This has included investments by the bank itself in challenger bank Atom and acquisitions of Holvi and Simple.
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