Sidecar Health, a transformative health insurance company providing major medical coverage to businesses, has announced it has secured $165m in Series D financing.
The funding round, which is the largest private investment in employer health benefits this year, was led by Koch Disruptive Technologies. Other participants included GreatPoint Ventures, BOND, Cathay Innovation, Drive Capital, Duke University, Menlo Ventures, and Morpheus.
Sidecar Health aims to revolutionise the health insurance industry by offering a free-market approach that prioritises consumer control over care decisions.
The company’s model provides transparency and flexibility, eliminating the need for prior authorisations and restrictive formularies, thus promoting accessible and affordable healthcare.
The new capital will be utilised to expand Sidecar Health’s employer plans into Florida, which has a competitive provider market and a substantial number of individuals covered by large employers. Additionally, the funding will support Sidecar Health’s partnership with Koch Industries to design insurance coverage tailored to jumbo employers.
David Mauney, managing director of Koch Disruptive Technologies, stated, “U.S. healthcare costs are soaring towards $5 trillion annually, yet our experiences and medical outcomes are not improving. The antiquated U.S. health insurance system is one of the main culprits in creating bottlenecks and hurdles to quality care. Sidecar Health is transforming the system with a model that offers a first-of-its-kind free market approach to healthcare that puts the consumer, not the insurance company, in control of their care decisions with never-before-seen tools and transparency paired with fewer restrictions. We look forward to working with Sidecar Health to accelerate commercial expansion in 2024 and beyond.”
Andrew Perlman, managing director at GreatPoint Ventures, also expressed strong support for Sidecar Health’s mission. “As the first Sidecar Health institutional investor, we are deeply supportive of how the company has fundamentally redesigned health insurance. Sidecar Health represents the most important structural innovation in decades in the biggest industry in America. They have developed the only solution we have seen to make care more affordable in an industry responsible for nearly 70% of all U.S. personal bankruptcies. We are also extremely proud to have brought a major state employee pension fund – and one of the largest purchasers of health insurance outside of the federal government – to the table with a significant investment in Sidecar Health through GreatPoint. This demonstrates the wide support of the company’s mission and the impact of the Sidecar Health model.”
Sidecar Health’s innovative approach addresses critical healthcare needs by providing major medical coverage without the typical network-based restrictions. This model ensures members can choose any licensed medical provider, enhancing transparency and control over healthcare costs.
Kendy Troiano, human resources director at Clark Grave Vault, a Sidecar Health customer, praised the company’s flexibility and cost transparency. “Sidecar Health empowers consumers to make informed decisions about their healthcare spending. Their flexibility, combined with upfront knowledge of costs and the freedom to choose any licensed provider, allows our employees to choose healthcare providers similarly to how they would decide to purchase any other service or personal item. This transparency and control over costs enable us to maintain affordable coverage while also benefiting from the potential savings realised from informed choices.”
Sidecar Health has previously raised investment from a diverse group of backers, showcasing wide support for its mission to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system.
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