Beanstalk Advantages, a startup that permits workers to construct their very own well being advantages, launched Thursday with $7.5 million in funding. The startup was constructed at Redesign Well being, a healthcare innovation firm.
Philadelphia-based Beanstalk Advantages vets advantages options and aggregates them right into a single platform. A few of these options embody BeMe Well being for teen psychological well being, Upswing Well being for joint and muscle ache, Vitalxchange for parenting assist and Sober Sidekick for sobriety assist. Workers can construct their very own advantages portfolio and pay for these advantages utilizing their employer-sponsored insurance coverage or private accounts. They’ll additionally change their portfolio at any time as their healthcare wants evolve.
“We now have 5 generations within the workforce,” mentioned Matthew Sydney, CEO of Beanstalk, in an interview. “We’ve by no means been able the place we’ve had a lot range within the workforce and the wants are so completely different. And so once we checked out what’s lacking from the system … there’s no platform and there’s no infrastructure … that places the worker within the driver’s seat.”
Beanstalk Advantages helps out the employer too, Sydney mentioned. As a substitute of getting to individually contract with a number of completely different level options, employers can simply contract with Beanstalk so as to provide entry to a number of options. The corporate works with each fully-insured and self-insured employers, and the employers pay one annual payment.
“We discover that there’s an enormous want within the small and mid-market enterprise,” Sydney mentioned. “There appears to be a robust want as a result of they’re getting squeezed and don’t at all times have the cash or extra importantly, the assets to evaluate and contract and administer these packages.”
For the options on Beanstalk’s platform, Beanstalk expands their attain to extra folks.
“Beanstalk has primarily given us entry to a retail market via a single contract that might probably attain hundreds of thousands of workers,” mentioned Dr. Steven Schutzer, co-founder and chief medical officer of Upswing Well being, in a information launch.
The corporate’s $7.5 million in seed funding helped develop Beanstalk’s platform. The rest of the funding will assist with “distribution and account administration,” Sydney mentioned.
Beanstalk’s launch comes at a time when many employers are battling level resolution fatigue and are struggling to handle a number of distributors without delay. Many are turning to navigation corporations like Accolade and Quantum Well being, which additionally combination a number of options onto one platform. Nonetheless, Beanstalk differs by permitting the staff to construct their very own advantages portfolio, Sydney mentioned. He added that he sees corporations like Accolade and Quantum Well being as potential collaborators to additional improve their marketplaces.
Finally, Sydney mentioned he goals to extend entry to care
“We need to actually bridge a whole lot of the gaps, whether or not these are medical deserts the place folks have a tough time receiving care … or there may be a cultural concern that we can assist service,” he mentioned. “We wish folks to actually worth the companies they get via their employer as a result of it’s actually a part of their whole rewards.”
Picture: Feodora Chiosea, Getty Pictures
