Alphabet invests $375 million in Oscar Health

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Google parent Alphabet has invested $375 million in next-gen health insurance company, Oscar Health
Google has been a longtime supporter of the six-year-old New York company, having previously invested in Oscar through its Capital G
investment wing and Verily health and life sciences research wing.&Alphabet has invested in Oscar over many years and has seen the company
and its team up close
We&re thrilled to invest further to help Oscar in its next phase of growth,& an Alphabet spokesperson told TechCrunch.That $165 million
round raised back in Marchvalued the health startup at around $3 billion
The new round maintains a similar valuation, while giving Alphabet a 10 percent share in Oscar
The deal also has longtime Google employee and former CEO Salar Kamangar joining Oscar board
Oscar co-founder and CEO Mario Schlosser announced the news in an interview with Wired, telling the site, &We can hire more engineers, we
can hire more data scientists, more product designers, more smart clinicians who can think about health care a different way
It the acceleration of that product roadmap that fascinates us the most
The second, more tangible piece, is that we&re launching new product lines.&Part of that product expansion includes getting into Medicare
Advantage in 2020, which is a deviation from the current offerings in the individual and employer insurance markets
Oscar started out by offering insurance for individuals, growing rapidly during the launch of the Affordable Care Act and then rolling into
small business offerings with its product Oscar for Business.Medicare represents a new vertical for the company, adding to its existing
focus on both the individual and employer insurance markets.&Oscar will accelerate the pursuit of its mission: to make our health care
system work for consumers,& Schlosser said in a statement provided to TechCrunch
&We will continue to build a member experience that lowers costs and improves care, and to bring Oscar to more people — deepening our
expansion into the individual and small business markets while entering a new business segment, Medicare Advantage, in 2020.&