Health benefits company Pebble announced its public launch, alongside a $12 million second seed funding round. The company's total raise is now $17.3 million. 

Pebble offers curated health plans to small businesses, while it partners with large health carriers. It also works with third-party companies to give employees additional coverage their companies do not provide, such as mental health or fertility coverage. 

The Seattle-based company's $12 million round was led by XYZ Venture Capital, with XYZ's founder and managing partner Ross Fubini joining Pebble's board of directors. Founders' Co-op also participated in the round. 

The funds will be used to scale Pebble's go-to-market teams and further its ongoing product development.

"There’s been a major shift in how employers evaluate health insurance – more than ever companies are looking to offer the most competitive benefits whilst reducing costs in this inflationary environment," Fubini said in a statement. "Pebble uses technology to allow startups to take on the risk of self insurance previously only reserved for companies like Apple, Google or Facebook while also saving them money and resources."

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Another company in the benefits space is HealthJoy, which offers Joy, a virtual assistant that helps users understand their benefits packages and navigate their care options through an AI-guided conversation.

The Chicago-based company announced its raise of $60 million in a Series D funding in October, which followed a $30 million Series C funding round in 2020 and a $12.5 million Series B funding round in 2019.

Collective Health, employee benefits platform that uses predictive analytics to match employees with programs, raised $280 million in Series F funding last year and $205 million in 2019.