Hive Health, a digital health insurance company based in Singapore, has raised $6.5 million in Pre-Series A funding to transform healthcare access for more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Philippines.
The firm said in a statement on Monday that its key investors of the fundraise included Sy family-backed Gentree Fund and global VC firm BEENEXT.
Other institutional investors include Y Combinator, The Graduate Syndicate, Amasia, and Oak Drive Ventures.
Angel investors include David Wells (former Chief Financial Officer of Netflix and the Chairman of Wise), Lee Kheng Nam (former Deputy Chairman of Temasek subsidiary Vertex Holding), Natasha Reyes (former owner of Health Maintenance Organization [HMO] Health Plan Philippines, Inc. [HPPI]), and Dr. Edwin Mercado (Founder of one of the largest healthcare systems in the Philippines now part of the Healthway Qualimed network).
“We’ve validated that SMEs love what we’ve built and now we want to reach more lives by accelerating our penetration of the underserved SME market in the Philippines,
”The fresh funds will help us grow our superstar mission-driven team, and invest in our technology platform and operations to further elevate the patient and employer experience.” Hive Health’s Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Camille Ang said.
In addition, Hive Health will be expanding its already extensive nationwide network to more healthcare providers, including those in more remote areas of the country.
“Change in healthcare is notoriously slow, but we’ve seen promising results from our ‘test fast and fix things’ approach, and the new round of funding will help us accelerate this further,” noted Jiawen Tang, President and Co-Founder of Hive Health.
“We have not only iteratively innovated on the traditional aspects of health insurance administration but now are increasingly working towards our ultimate goal of transforming the total patient experience through changing care delivery models,” she added.
It is noted that Hive Health has built robust foundations from the ground-up over the past three years, and plans to lead the industry in adoption of new technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning predictive analytics.
Founded at Harvard and Stanford Universities in 2021, Hive Health is a full-stack digital health insurer, offering hassle-free, comprehensive HMO health plans for SMEs and startups, encompassing outpatient, inpatient, emergency, and dental care through an extensive nationwide network of 1,700 hospitals and clinics, and over 60,000 doctors across locations.
Prior to this raise, Hive Health was the first startup to acquire one of the pioneering Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) insurance companies in the Philippines, Health Plan Philippines, Inc. (HPPI), securing a full insurance license and 37-year nationwide provider network.
Co-Founders Camille Ang and Jiawen Tang started Hive Health from a shared discovery that while health insurance is extremely inaccessible in developing countries like the Philippines, there is an opportunity to leverage their unique backgrounds in fintech, data, and public-private partnership to solve this problem.
Beyond offering innovative, inclusive benefits such as mental health, medicine, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning, asexual (LGBTQIA+) partner coverage, Hive Health has built a digital platform that empowers patients to manage their care easily through its one-of-a-kind vertically integrated telehealth and care coordination model that bridges virtual and in-person care.
Additionally, companies can use Hive Health’s human resource (HR) dashboard to centrally manage plan enrollments, invoices, and understand employee wellness.
Furthermore, Hive Health has developed its own electronic medical records system and integrated provider portal that facilitates transparent claims management and faster payouts for its partner doctors and clinics.
From its launch in 2021, Hive Health is now serving hundreds of small medium businesses and has grown 8 times in the past year alone.
“We see immense potential in Hive Health’s innovative approach to transforming healthcare for SMEs,
“Leveraging our extensive local consumer knowledge and operational expertise, we are confident in Hive Health’s ability to cement its market leadership in the SME space and drive significant positive change in the Philippine market. We are excited to support their journey,” said Mark Sng, representing the third generation SM conglomerate Sy family’s Gentree Fund.
Dirk van Quaquebeke, Managing Partner at BEENEXT, said that he has seen how Hive Health has consistently executed on their vision of transforming the way healthcare is experienced by building a full-stack health insurtech company.
“The BEENEXT team, with our global experience spanning health insurtech and other industries, is excited to support their next phase of growth,
“We believe that they can create a legendary long-lasting company,” he added.
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