Payer startup Angle Health scores $58M to scale operations, expand to new markets

Angle Health, a payer serving employers, has raised $58 million to expand to new markets.

The series A round was led by Portage and included participation from a dozen new and existing investors like SixThirty Ventures, Blumberg Capital, Y Combinator and PruVen Capital, Prudential Financial’s VC arm. The funding will be used to scale its core tech and operations.

Angle Health bills itself as a full-stack healthcare company, and launched in 2021 after participating in the 2020 Y Combinator winter cohort. The startup was founded by two former Palantir engineers and currently operates in Utah, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri and South Carolina, covering tens of thousands of lives.

Powered by an integrated, AI-enabled platform, Angle Health offers a digital-first care navigation experience with customizable plans for employers. “What we’re building here is a true technology company,” co-founder and chief technology officer Anirban Gangopadhyay told Fierce Healthcare. The company’s clients include Gallagher, Aon and Hub. 

Core offerings available for all plans at no extra cost include telemedicine for primary and urgent care and behavioral health, both of which are outsourced to Included Health. Employers also have the option to pay for additional customized services such as special chronic disease programs targeting specific conditions.

“Angle Health brings a customizable, fully digital solution to an industry dominated by rigid benefit plans, opaque underwriting, difficult switching costs and siloed point solutions,” Ricky Lai, partner at Portage, said in an announcement. “Angle has made health insurance more convenient, approachable and affordable for employers and members.” 

By bundling telehealth and behavioral benefits with administrative services and care navigation, Angle Health is a “one-stop healthcare benefits shop,” co-founder and CEO Ty Wang told Fierce Healthcare. By working with one vendor, Wang argues, employers are “not only spending less across all these services, but also it’s much less resource-intensive for them to manage that.” 

“We’ve effectively taken the burden off the member in navigating the healthcare system,” Gangopadhyay echoed. Executives say the company is the first point of contact for any health-related questions, whether clinical or administrative. When members have a question, they can chat with Angle Health’s internal care team of registered nurses and medical directors, who determine how best to address the need. 

The model is a “fundamental shift” for employers, “where they don’t see us as this big bad financial institution that has misaligned incentives with them but really as a partner in health with them,” Wang said. The primary difference between Angle Health and other major payers, he argues, is its member experience and customizable options as opposed to the more traditional “canned solutions.”