Chicago-based HealthJoy, an artificial intelligence-driven platform for employee benefits engagement and cost containment, has netted $3 million in a Series A round of financing.
Chicago Ventures led the round, with participation from Social Capital, Sidekick Fund and HealthJoy’s seed-round lead, Go-Health. Also included in the round were Angel investments from leaders in technology and health innovation including Andrew Sieja, CEO of KCura; Brad Hoover, CEO of Grammarly; Ben Evans, CEO of OurHealth; Eduardo Vivas, founder of Bright.com; and Jason Theofilis, CEO of MUNDOMedia.
“HealthJoy boasts a powerful combination of a world-class team and groundbreaking technology with a proven approach to employee engagement, and unmatched cost containment results,” said Stuart Larkins, partner at Chicago Ventures, in a statement. “They are in a unique position to impact a huge market with well-defined pain points, and we are excited to help fuel their growth.”
Cofounded in 2014 by CEO Justin Holland and President Doug Morse-Schindler, HealthJoy started in the individual health insurance market, serving more than 50,000 members. After bolstering the case for its engagement strategy and ability to contain costs, HealthJoy dove into the employee benefits market in 2016, distributing its platform to HR teams across the country through benefit advisors, third party administrators and health plans; the idea was to help employers address the costs and complexity of health benefits.
“We’re thrilled to partner with investors that have both a track record of fostering success at innovative companies and a shared vision of intuitive, transparent healthcare experiences," Justin Holland, CEO and co-founder of HealthJoy, said in a statement. “This round of funding will enable us to grow our sales, service and engineering teams, deepen our integrations with our strategic partners, and further develop the functionality of our artificial intelligence platform.”
According to research from the Kaiser Family Foundation, close to 156 million Americans have access to the healthcare system through employer-sponsored plans. And as healthcare costs continue to rise, employees face higher deductibles and reduced coverage -- increasing the need for tools that help employees and their families understand their benefits packages, navigate the healthcare system and manage costs.
HealthJoy’s bread and butter is a mobile app powered by JOY, a virtual assistant that makes every healthcare decision a proactive, guided conversation. Whether connecting with a doctor virtually or a local specialist, researching a procedure, lowering prescription costs, or negotiating a medical bill, employees simply chat with JOY whenever they need help. The platform integrates a company's health plan information and other benefits for personalized recommendations. It’s supported by a healthcare concierge team which can help employees through more complex issues.
The company’s platform also gives HR teams the ability to use push notifications to send personalized information to employees.
HealthJoy was recently named a preferred technology partner to the Benefit Advisors Network, the nation’s premier credentialed network of independent benefit advisory & consulting companies.
