Stride Health Scoops Up $47 Million Series C

<p><strong><span class&equals;"xn-location">SAN FRANCISCO<&sol;span><&sol;strong> &&num;8212&semi; Stride Health&comma; a provider of portable benefits for independent workers&comma; has raised a <span class&equals;"xn-money">&dollar;47 million<&sol;span> Series C round&comma; bringing its total funding to <span class&equals;"xn-money">&dollar;96 million<&sol;span>&period; The round was led by King River Capital with participation from Mastercard and Allstate along with existing investors Venrock&comma; NEA&comma; Fidelity&&num;8217&semi;s F-Prime Capital&comma; and Moderne Ventures&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"col-sm-10 col-sm-offset-1">&NewLine;<p>The funding will be used to expand on Stride&&num;8217&semi;s work in building a modern portable benefits system for every American who lacks an employer safety net&period; Stride helps independent workers enroll in Affordable Care Act health insurance through a unique integration &amp&semi; partnership with healthcare&period;gov&comma; manage &amp&semi; minimize taxes&comma; and access an array of financial benefits and guidance&comma; all in an easy-to-use app&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"col-sm-10 col-sm-offset-1">&NewLine;<p>Stride partners with more than 120 companies including Uber&comma; DoorDash&comma; Instacart&comma; Amazon&comma; Grubhub&comma; Etsy&comma; Patreon&comma; Keller Williams&comma; Willis Towers Watson&comma; Aon and Gopuff to bring portable benefits to their communities of independent contractors&period; In the first eight months of 2021&comma; Stride&&num;8217&semi;s membership climbed to <span class&equals;"xn-money">2&period;7M<&sol;span> individuals while health enrollments increased 3&period;5X over 2020&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Getting your own benefits can be stressful&comma; confusing and expensive for independent workers&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said <span class&equals;"xn-person">Noah Lang<&sol;span>&comma; Co-Founder and CEO of Stride&period; &&num;8220&semi;An estimated 90 million Americans will work independently by 2028&comma; and they all deserve to feel financially secure&period; That&&num;8217&semi;s why we&&num;8217&semi;ve built a modern&comma; flexible benefits system for independent workers — because benefits shouldn&&num;8217&semi;t be reserved for full-time traditional employees&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The investment from Mastercard will expand the portable benefits partnership that the companies announced last year&period; Mastercard and Stride share a vision of creating a benefits system that addresses the needs of an evolving American workforce&period; Together&comma; the companies will expand accessibility and affordability of critical insurance products like major medical&comma; vision and dental for gig workers&comma; independent contractors and part-time employees&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The investment from Allstate includes a partnership to expand the insurance benefits available on Stride and expand healthcare benefits access to Allstate customers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The funding included new angel investors <span class&equals;"xn-person">Bruce Perkins<&sol;span> &lpar;former President of Healthcare Services at Humana&rpar;&comma; <span class&equals;"xn-person">Chet Burrell<&sol;span> &lpar;former CEO of CareFirst&rpar;&comma; <span class&equals;"xn-person">Aneesh Chopra<&sol;span> &lpar;the first Chief Technology Officer of <span class&equals;"xn-location">the United States<&sol;span>&rpar;&comma; <span class&equals;"xn-person">Jonathan Bush<&sol;span> &lpar;founder of AthenaHealth&rpar;&comma; and <span class&equals;"xn-person">Kevin Nazemi<&sol;span> &lpar;cofounder of Oscar Health Insurance&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;