Clover Health lost $22M in 2017, a slight improvement from the previous year

The highly-valued health insurance startup Clover Health pared back its losses in 2017, but the company is still struggling to turn a profit.

The company lost $22 million in 2017, according to Bloomberg, a slight improvement from the $35 million it lost in 2016. Revenue grew from $184 million in 2016 to $267 million last year. The insurer's star rating has also dropped from 3.5 to 3 this year.

Backed by the likes of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, and Greenoaks Capital, Clover was last valued at $1.2 billion following a $130 million funding round last year. All told, investors poured $425 million into the insurance startup that had focused exclusively on Medicare Advantage plans in New Jersey.

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After limiting its plans to one state for several years, the company announced in December that it would expand to Georgia, Texas and Pennsylvania. Clover relies on a data-driven strategy that leans on predictive analytics to provide necessary information to providers about high-risk patients.

But it’s been a bumpy ride for the insurer over the last several years. The company was fined by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2016 for “misleading” marketing tactics after receiving a high volume of complaints from enrollees. Last month, a CNBC report revealed that Clover delayed paying bills to laboratories as leverage to collect patient data. The company also fell well short of its early projections for both revenue and membership.

In December, chief technology officer and co-founder Kris Gale stepped down from his role to serve as an adviser.