Sana, an InsurTech startup based in Austin, has closed a $20 million Series A round to boost its efforts of breaking the American health insurance monopoly.
The funding round was led by Gigafund and brings the total funding raised by the startup to $46.8 million. New investors American Family Ventures, Breyer Capital, JAM Fund, and Harmon Brothers Ad Ventures, as well as existing investors Trust Ventures and mark vc also participated in the round. Stephen Oskoui, Managing Partner at Gigafund, referred to the firm’s participation by stating:
“Gigafund makes large, long-term investments in companies that are solving society’s biggest problems. Healthcare is an essential industry that has been broken for decades, and Sana is fixing the system by realigning incentives and delivering better care at lower costs. We believe that Sana is on track to become one of the world’s biggest and most significant companies.”
Sana was founded back in 2017 as a means to bring more diversity to the American health insurance industry, which has historically been dominated by 5 major companies. By providing simplified and straightforward plans, the startup aims to make health insurance less confusing and more accessible . Will Young, CEO and co-founder of Sana, said about this mission:
“Sana’s goal is to improve health outcomes and decrease healthcare costs. We’ve developed a care model that keeps members healthy by focusing on primary and preventive care, and providing access to centers of excellence for more complex procedures. At the same time, our marketing and sales efforts are laser-focused on ensuring that as many small businesses as possible are taking advantage of that model. This round of investment supports both of these initiatives.
Available in 5 states at this time, Sana has experienced rapid growth over the past year, increasing its customer base by over 140%. Now, the startup is focused on sustaining this growth by investing in strategic initiatives to expand into new markets. These include zero-cost care options, digital health offerings, care navigation, and the expansion of its provider networks.
Sana believes that by breaking the existing monopoly, competition will result in better healthcare and increased health coverage for all Americans. According to the last Census, 28 million Americans did not possess health insurance during 2020. 66% of those who did, opted for the private coverage offered by their employees. Despite 2020 seeing the COVID19 pandemic affect millions of people, healthcare coverage only increased by 0.4% when compared to 2018, a reflection of the failures of the current system.
