Healthcare payment provider Soda Health launched on Thursday (Aug. 19) following a combined $6 million seed funding round, according to a company press release. Lightspeed Venture Partners and Define Ventures co-led the funding round, which also included support from Qiming Venture Partners USA.
As part of its primary offerings, Soda Health intends to help consumers in seeking reimbursement for health-related items and services integral for good health maintenance, but which are not covered by traditional medical claims. In many instances, a person’s limited financial resources make accessing benefits more difficult. In conjunction with its healthcare payments platform, the company will strive to make sure patients can gain simpler access to their benefits, per the release. To help streamline the process, the company said health plans will have a technology platform to assist in overseeing and reimbursing benefits more efficiently.
The newly formed company was co-founded by CEO Robby Knight along with Daryl Risinger, Jared Dauman and Chris Brown.
“We are building an organization solely dedicated to eliminating health inequities,” said Robby Knight. “We accomplish that by making the health care transaction and experience more like retail purchases using debit cards.”
The almost 20 million Medicare Advantage beneficiaries who use supplemental health insurance to cover over-the-counter drugs demonstrates the growing need for patient support for these health-related transactions, the company said.
Like Soda Health, MiSalud also announced the launch of a healthcare platform this week, according to PYMNTS. Citing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Hispanic community — with that population 2.3 times more likely to die from the virus — MiSalud hopes to personalize its platform especially for Hispanic people.
Learn more: MiSalud To Debut Health, Wellness Platform For Hispanic Community; Gets $5M Funding Boost
Other healthcare companies are focused on providing a better patient experience as well. This week ClosedLoop.ai announced a $34 million funding round which will be used to build upon its Artificial Intelligence tools to help healthcare providers predict patient-specific results in order to modify patient care, cut costs and arrive at better end results.
Read more: ClosedLoop.ai Nets $34M In Series B Funding Round
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