AXA Strategic Ventures (ASV), AXA’s (Paris) innovation-focused venture capital company founded in Feb. 2015, has invested in mobile insurance technology provider, Limelight Health (San Francisco). Founded in 2014, Limelight Health provides mobile, cloud-based technology aimed at helping companies to simplify employee health benefits information and streamline the proposal, decision and renewal process.
Manish Agarwal, General Partner, AXA Strategic Ventures.
“We are excited about the partnership with Limelight because they share our vision for serving the growing SME market in the US,” comments Manish Agarwal, general partner, ASV. “The market requires personalized and compelling benefits solutions, which is an important focus of new product development for AXA. The changing insurance landscape highlights the need for transparency and simplicity in the business process. Limelight Health’s technology is setting a new precedent for enterprise level efficiency.”
QuotePad, Limelight Health’s first commercial product released in January 2015, addresses the challenges of redundant, paper intensive sales and administrative work in insurance, according to an AXA statement. AXA describes QuotePad as a mobile, real-time technology platform that enables brokers, carrier representatives and underwriters to immediately respond to customer quote requests, compare employee benefits information and model interactive health plan cost scenarios with real-time market data. The company claims that this results in a superior customer experience and understanding of the benefits being offered.
Jason T. Andrew, CEO, Limelight Health.
Early Stages of Industry Shift
“The shift happening in the insurance and benefits industry is still in its early stages and the opportunity is tremendous to redefine how enterprise organizations approach benefits and interact with their customers,” comments Jason T. Andrew, CEO and co-founder, Limelight Health. “AXA has an innovative approach in the market and we are eager to collaborate with them to move our business forward significantly.”
Limelight Health intends to use the capital to help grow its sales and engineering teams, deliver innovative product enhancements to its cloud-based SaaS technology platform, and aggressively expand distribution nationally, according to AXA.
ASV is AXA’s (Paris) $220 million venture capital fund dedicated to emerging strategic innovations in insurance and financial services. The company invests in startups via seed funding and also provides venture capital for growth companies. In addition to its Paris headquarters, the fund currently has offices in San Francisco, New York, London, Zurich, Berlin and Hong Kong.