Hixme Insurance Solutions Inc. announced Wednesday that it has raised $10.4 million in a Series A funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley. The Agoura Hills health benefits consulting firm also announced that Denny Weinberg, a co-founder and executive at insurance giant Wellpoint (now Anthem Inc. in Indianapolis) will serve as chief executive. In addition, Dr. Beth Seidenberg, a general partner at Kleiner Perkins, has joined the Hixme board. Hixme offers a technology-enabled platform to help employers move from employer-owned group benefits programs to market-based private programs where the employees can tailor coverage to fit their needs. This approach was made possible because of the recently implemented Affordable Care Act that no longer makes it a requirement to have a job to retain health insurance. Thus, Hixme is encouraging employers to pay its employees, and then the employees choose their own policies. “We are currently seeing a huge shift in how health care is paid for and delivered,” said Seidenberg. “Hixme is at the forefront of companies who can free employers from the chore of benefit plan design and empower the individual employee and family members.” Hixme will invest the money into operational growth to advance its technology development and national marketing.
