Not all the Oscar that the American Film Award

Oscar , a health insurance startup, has undergone another round of funding that brings it to a $ 1.5 billion bar.

Led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund , Horizon Ventures, Wellington Management Company, and Goldman Sachs, the startup received $ 145 million in the piggy bank. Earlier, the company had already funded $ 150 million.

Last year, the company tripled the number of registrations, reports Fortune .
')
Current trends indicate that venture capital investors are diligently increasing their investment in health care. Judging by the analytical article on TechCrunch, in 2014, venture capitalists invested in health insurance 250% more than in the year before.



Oscar is one of the largest startups in this field.



Founded in 2013 by Josh Kushner, Thrive Capital , a venture capital investor, along with Kevin Nazimi and Mario Schlosser, Oscar provides health insurance for individuals in the states of New York and New Jersey.

The company, increasing the number of registrations from 17 to 40 thousand (which is approximately $ 200 million per year), calculates that it takes from 12 to 15 percent of the personal health insurance market in New York. Due to the fact that the company announced plans to expand to other regions, the number of employees last year increased from 90 to 185.

Employees believe that the biggest problem for a startup is winning customer trust. To do this, the company uses unusual moves in the medical field, such as: focusing on a young audience, savvy in modern technology, and a personal tone of messages in advertising brochures, in sharp contrast with the faceless corporate policies of traditional medical insurance companies.

In turn, this raises issues of prestige and seriousness of the company, which may also affect a more conservative audience.

Earlier this year, Oscar, in partnership with Misfit Wearables, provided free wearable devices to its customers. This action meant paying customers a dollar a day for a certain number of steps completed. As a result, two thirds of customers have gone about 2.5 billion steps since last December.