Gravie grabs $75M series E for employer-sponsored benefits

Health benefits provider Gravie raked in $75 million in series E funding to enhance employer-sponsored benefits.

The insurtech company provides a marketplace that helps employees find health plans to meet their individual healthcare needs.

The company also launched its own health plan in 2018 called Comfort, which eliminates copays and deductibles for most healthcare services, including for primary and preventive care, mental health care, prescriptions and labs.

Canadian firm Georgian led the series E round, with participation from existing investors FirstMark Capital, AXA Venture Partners, Split Rock Partners and Revelation Partners.

Gravie says it’s provided health benefits solutions to more than 1,500 employers across the country.

“Gravie is focused on rebuilding the consumer experience in healthcare from the bottom-up, and creating health benefits solutions that are sustainable long-term for employers,” said Abir Sen, co-founder and co-CEO of Gravie, in a statement. “Georgian’s experience with relevant technologies, and the data and platform assets they bring to bear, will be instrumental as we build toward our vision for the future.”

Founded in 2013, the company last raised $28 million in series D funding in March 2021.

The Minneapolis-based company has banked around $147 million to date, according to Crunchbase.

The company plans to put the funding toward continued growth in its product and technology development, sales and marketing and market expansion.

Gravie also offers year-round member support through its Gravie Care team to help employees choose plans, find providers and use their benefits.

As employer insurance costs continue to rise, many employers are rethinking traditional models to provide their employees with better care at lower costs.

The pandemic accelerated this trend, as the telehealth boom forced payers to rethink rates for virtual versus in-person care.

Employer interest in offering voluntary benefits to workers, like hospital indemnity coverage, has also increased as a result of the pandemic, which brought the value of certain benefits to light.

A Willis Towers Watson survey published in May 2021 showed 94% of employers think additional voluntary benefits will be critical to their organizations over the next three years—compared to just 36% that said the same in 2018.

About 4 in 10 employers (42%) surveyed offered hospital indemnity coverage last year, but 65% said they planned to provide it by 2022. Similarly, 57% offered critical illness insurance, but 76% said they would provide it by 2022.