Charlotte health-tech startup Troy Medicare has raised a $10 million Series B round that it will use to expand its tech and continue to grow its customer base into 2021.
The startup, founded in 2018 by Flaviu Simihaian and Josh Young, is a platform designed to provide accessible and affordable health insurance to older people in rural and underserved communities. Troy is available to anyone who is eligible for Medicare A or B and lives in Cabarrus, Iredell, Robeson or Rowan counties.
The funding round was announced on Tuesday and led by global tech-focused VC firm AXA Venture Partners. Sunwater Capital also participated in the round.
Simihaian said the backing of AXA Venture is a big win for Troy because of their status in the venture capital space.
"It's really exciting because they have $80 billion in assets, so as we grow, they can really help support that growth," he said. "It's a great partnership."
Half of the funds will be put into the company's capital reserves, a regulation that ensures they have enough capital to cover claims for every member. The other half will be used to grow their tech capabilities, Simihaian said.
"The reason a lot of these folks invested is because we're able to be more efficient than other insurance companies," he said. "Our mission is to remove the BS in health care, and a lot of that is the middleman between the payer — us — and the senior or doctor."
Simihaian said the Troy team is at work developing tech that will allow for prescription data to be stored directly on their platform, taking away the need for that middleman, called the Pharmacy Benefit Manager.
He said Troy has doubled its membership in the last month and is expected to double again by the end of the year. By early 2021, Simihaian said they should have about 2,000 members in just four counties.
Next year, Troy will focus on continued growth as it expands into an additional 20 counties in North Carolina, and in 2022, the company will begin looking at expansion in South Carolina and Tennessee.
"Our ultimate goal is to be public, so in two or three years we want to file a small IPO," he said. "That's the way we can show that our model is scaling and can give a return to our investors."
