League, a Toronto-based digital health startup with ties to Seattle, announced Tuesday that it has launched its digital health benefits platform in the United States, with service available in Washington state and Illinois. The company also announced a new U.S. headquarters in Chicago.
The company’s Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer Todd Humphrey is a familiar face in Seattle’s tech world and is still based in the city. A League spokesperson said the company had been using Seattle as a de-facto pilot city for expansion in the U.S., but choose Chicago as its U.S. headquarters because the city has strong connections to its hometown of Toronto.
League also announced the appointment of former WellTok President and COO Brian Ancell as the company’s U.S. president. Ancell is a career healthcare executive who spent seventeen years at insurance company Premera Blue Cross, most recently as an executive vice president.
League bills itself as a digital alternative to traditional health insurance, connecting employers and employees with a variety of health services including insurance, wellness plans and workplace health plans. It raised a $25 million Series A funding round last year.
It also puts a strong focus on technology with a paperless customer interface that allows customers to build their own health plans instead of choosing from limited health offerings that are the status quo in the health insurance industry. It also features a digital wallet for health and wellness spending.
“League is changing an antiquated industry by putting more access and control in the hands of the consumer and creating a product that is tailored to their unique health and wellness needs,” League CEO and Co-founder Mike Serbinis said in a press release. “It’s about dragging the industry out of the stone age. More than 155 million Americans rely on their employers for health coverage, but very few find it a meaningful experience. League delivers an integrated solution that connects the provider, the consumer and the employer – making the experience of health benefits simply better.”
League was founded in 2014 and now employs more than 100 people at its offices in Toronto and Chicago.
