Dive Brief:
- After only 16 months in the industry, Oscar, an insurer in New York State, is valued at $1.5 billion—making it one of the billion-dollar startups known as a "unicorn."
- Oscar officials announced on Monday that the company has raised $145 million in venture capital funding. With the addition of the new funding, Oscar has more than tripled in value since last January.
- The insurer has enrolled about 40,000 customers and operates solely in New York.
Dive Insight:
Investors have been drawn to Oscar's modern business model, which is built on technology and friendly customer service. Some of the company's innovations that have appealed to investors include an intuitive website, free calls to doctors and more price transparency.
Oscar is planning to use the funding to branch out to other regions. "Now we feel ready to expand our products to other states," Joshua Kushner, Oscar's founder and chairman, told The New York Times. "There has been such strong customer satisfaction, we thought we were ready to push the product forward."