Seattle health benefits startup Pebble publicly launched Wednesday and announced $17.3 million in total funding, including a $12 million second seed round it recently closed.
The 15-person company uses AI to create health benefits plans for companies with up to 500 employees. Its goal is to give startups and small businesses the same health benefit perks as large firms, helping them to recruit and retain talent.
“Healthcare is one of the leading cost centers for startups, yet one that gets little attention,” Pebble CEO and co-founder Manoj Pinna said in a statement. “The options are difficult to navigate, and coverage almost never meets expectations.”
Health benefit plans can help tech giants court talent away from startups. Many employees in the workforce are seeking benefits such as fertility assistance and mental health coverage, which are often out of reach for smaller companies. Pebble opens up these sorts of benefits for clients.
Pebble said its software can integrate with HR platforms such as Gusto, Rippling, Justworks and ADP, among others. The company will use the fresh cash for hiring and product development.
Some of the startup’s early customers include insurance-tech Joshu, note-taking app Dendron, and Seattle event-facilitator Mystery. Pebble did not reveal current revenue figures.
Pinna was on the founding team of Nubank, the largest digital bank in Latin America, and led teams at Capital One and ZestFinance. He co-founded Pebble with longtime friend Vinay Reddy, a former senior software engineer at Google.
XYZ Venture Capital led the round, with participation from Founders’ Co-op. Ross Fubini, managing partner at XYZ, joined Pebble’s board of directors.
“Most early growth companies are overpaying carriers and getting poor benefits,” Founders’ Co-op Managing Partner Chris DeVore said in a blog post. “Pebble delivers better, cheaper packages for core benefits, and also makes it possible to offer sought-after benefits like fertility and expanded mental health coverage to their employees.”
