Seattle health insurance startup Pebble launched on Wednesday, announcing a total of $17.3 million in funding, including a recently closed second seed round of $12 million.
A 15-employee company uses AI to create health insurance plans for businesses with up to 500 employees. Its goal is to provide start-ups and small businesses with the same health benefits as larger companies, and help recruit and retain talent.
Pebble CEO and co-founder Manoj Pinna said in a statement: “Options are hard to navigate and coverage rarely lives up to expectations.”
Health and benefits plans help tech giants lure talent away from startups. Many employees in the workforce seek benefits such as fertility treatment and mental health coverage that are often out of reach for smaller businesses. Pebble brings this kind of benefit to its clients.
Pebble says its software can be integrated with HR platforms such as Gusto, Rippling, Justworks and ADP. The company will use the fresh cash for hiring and product development.
Early customers of the startup include insurance tech Joshu, note-taking app Dendron, and Seattle event facilitator Mystery. Pebble has not disclosed its current revenue figures.
Pinna was part of the founding team of Nubank, the largest digital bank in Latin America, leading the Capital One and ZestFinance teams. Together with his longtime friend Vinay Reddy, a former senior software engineer at Google, he founded Pebble.
XYZ Venture Capital led the round, with participation from Founders’ Co-op. His partner, managing XYZ, Ross Fubini, has joined Pebble’s board of directors.
“Most of the early growth companies are overpaying their carriers and making too little profit,” Chris DeVore, managing partner at Founders’ Co-op, said in a blog post. I’m here. “Pebble is committed to providing better, cheaper packages for core benefits, as well as providing much-needed benefits to employees, such as increased fertility and mental health coverage. make it possible.”
