Loop, a Pune-based healthcare and insurance startup has raised $25 million in a Series B round co-led by General Catalyst and Elevation Capital (formerly Saif Partners). The round also included participation from leading Silicon Valley investor - Vinod Khosla and Khosla Ventures, Sierra Ventures, as well as a new investor, Optum Ventures. The round comes just 6 months after Loop raised a $12 million Series A round, bringing the total funds raised by Loop till date to $40 million.
The company will use the fresh funds to drive sales growth, product development, and strategic hiring. This would help in its efforts to scale their new health assurance delivery model to millions of people across India.
“When we started Loop in 2018, it was to change how the healthcare system worked. We wanted it to be more preventive than reactive," said Mayank Kale, co-founder and CEO, Loop. "We wanted to bring insurers and doctors on the same side for once, so that we create a health assurance model that is incentivized to keep people healthy. Through our journey, we’ve also been able to bring back the concept of family doctors to India."
Loop has recorded tremendous growth in FY 2021-22, recently growing at a clip of 30 per cent month-on-month. The company has seen a 5x revenue growth from the previous financial year driven by phenomenal adoption by new customers. They now provide health insurance and benefits to 130,000 members across over 300 companies pan India. Their corporate team has grown from 50 to 250 in this period and is currently operational in Pune, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.
“Care delivery in India has many pain points with conflicting incentives," said Vinod Khosla, founder, Khosla Ventures."Loop is changing the cost equation by allowing payers and providers to work together. Through its unique product and affordable pricing, Loop has a significant competitive advantage."
Founded in 2018 by Mayank Kale, Ryan Singh, Amrit Singh, and Shami Raj, Loop provides group health insurance plans from prominent insurers to companies, bundled with an instant, virtual care experience. The firm said it is the only insurance broker in the country with an in-house medical team. This means it can directly extend preventive care, helping members manage chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, COPD, and mental health issues.
“Loop’s healthcare-first mission aligns deeply with our thesis that an outcome-focused solution is needed to crack an age-old market that sells insurance as a commodity," said Mayank Khanduja at Elevation Capital. "Since we co-led the Series A, the team has demonstrated this in plenty, growing 3X in three quarters. The founders have built a stellar team across tech, product, and business that’s looking to solve the hardest challenges in insurtech and healthtech."
Loop offers their health benefits complementary to companies who buy health insurance from them. Loop members get access to a dedicated family doctor, unlimited consultations with Loop’s in-house specialists, and discounts on lab tests. During the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Loop offered “home quarantine kits” to Covid-positive members who had to be isolated at home.
Through Loop, the founders aim to disrupt the healthcare industry by changing the incentives for doctors. The company said that today the health system makes money when people are sick, not when they are healthy. Loop hopes that by paying doctors to keep people healthy preventatively, they can change healthcare to be more empathetic, accessible, and proactive. Currently, thousands of Loop members use primary care services through the Loop app every week.
As of April 2020, there is a federal mandate for employer health insurance and 65 per cent of health insurance policies are booked by employers. The $10 billion health insurance market is growing at a 25 per cent CAGR. This largely unpenetrated segment is mainly bought by company Human Resource managers from traditional offline brokers. Loop said brokers have limited offerings that don’t include true health benefits like primary care, specialist care, mental health and chronic care management.
Loop’s notable clients include NoBroker, Bilcare and NTEX Transportation Services. The other clients include Bekart Industries, WOM India, Incred and Saregama.
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