The pandemic has exposed a number issues in the country’s health care system. And this has created the opportunity for a local startup developing a solution to grow during the current crisis.
Dallas-based Take Command Health, a health insurance reimbursement arrangement administrator and software solution, announced closing on a $2 million bridge funding round led by Austin-based VC firm LiveOak Venture Partners that will help it grow its team, software and services.
“We are all facing unprecedented uncertainty ushered in by the Covid-19 pandemic. While the desire amongst business owners to make health insurance affordable for employees has never been stronger, many are starting to question why that insurance coverage must be tied to the job,” Jack Hooper, co-founder and CEO at Take Command, told NTX Inno via email.
Take Command was launched in 2014, after co-Hooper was looking to find coverage for the birth of his twins while he was still in grad school and was eyeing the option of taking out more student loans to cover the expenses. Since its launch, the company has gone on to win the University of Pennsylvania Wharton Business School Innovation Award (where Hooper was getting his degree) and raised, with this new round of funding, about $5.2 million from backers including local early-stage investment firm Green Park & Golf Ventures.
As a licensed insurer in Texas and five other states in the south and Midwest, Take Command focuses on providing health care insurance solutions to small businesses and individuals. Through the company’s software platform, businesses can allow employees to choose individual plans and set reimbursement rates. And through analyzing data from public, private and alternative plans, Take Command also helps individuals find coverage that is not directly tied to employment.
“We hear from people all the time who are overwhelmed by the idea of selecting their own insurance plan – they are scared and they’ve never been taught how to shop for health insurance,” Hooper said. “Our goal is to be a safe place for folks to come ask their questions about health insurance and feel empowered to make sound decisions in the future. We also know that health insurance is not a one-size-fits-all or even a one-size-fits-most situation.”
The rise in unemployment caused by the pandemic has made many businesses look for ways to find more affordable plans and individuals to look for ways to maintain coverage without an employee plan, especially with HRA plans. And this, along with the new funding, has allowed Take Command to grow amid the crisis, Hooper said. The company has been able to add to its compliance, support, strategy and development teams to accommodate new users, bringing Take Command’s total headcount to about 30 employees. The funding will also help roll out a beta payments software that would allow remove the need for employees to pay premiums up front, which the company plans to launch later this year.
“… [Our model] really allows individuals and families to assess their real needs and not over insure themselves. When you put these two things together there’s something really powerful and transformative and that is exactly what we are going after,” Hooper said.
