Level is Rebuilding Insurance to Help Employers Offer Bigger Benefits for Less

NEW YORK (PRWEB) April 16, 2021

Level, the technology company that makes financial products for employers, announced $27 million in Series A funding. Khosla Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, along with Operator Collective and leading angels. Previous investors First Round Capital and Homebrew also participated. The funding will help Level accelerate building insurance and benefits products that meet the demands of today's consumers.

"Insurance is confusing and often feels unfair. Networks restrict where you can go, billing takes weeks, and you always seem to owe more than you expect," shares Paul Aaron, founder and CEO of Level. "We believe paying with insurance should be as easy as any other purchase. So we're rebuilding insurance from the ground up--from flexible networks to real-time claims. We're helping employers and employees get more out of their benefits dollars."

Level first launched employer-sponsored dental benefits in 2019 and now also offers vision plans. Today, the company serves leading people-centric companies, including Intercom, Udemy, Docker, and KeepTruckin.

Every part of the member experience is seamless--from finding a provider to checkout. With Level, employers can offer their teams:

• Straightforward plans: Employers can customize plans to offer 100 percent coverage across treatments, which stretches benefit dollars further and eliminates out-of-pocket costs. Members have a benefits balance that they spend and track like cash.
• Mobile-first experience: Members can manage their plans all with the Level app. That includes finding a provider, getting detailed cost estimates, and tracking benefits spend in real-time.
• Flexibility to see any provider: Members can see any provider and their visit is covered 100 percent, even out of network. Members can also save with Level's national network of providers.
• Fast payments: No more surprise bills weeks later: 88 percent of claims are processed the same day. No more paperwork. Members can "settle up" their bill before they even leave the office.

Level's full-stack approach extends across the benefits ecosystem of employers, brokers, and providers. The company is building end-to-end tools, from automated underwriting to real-time benefit analytics.

"We actually offer Level to our team here at First Round Capital, and people love it," shares Rob Hayes, Board Partner. "There's a certain 'magic' when using the Level app and paying with insurance instantly at checkout. It was a similar feeling when opening the Uber app for the first time. The more people experience how simple insurance can be, the more they'll start to ask for Level from their next employer."

Level not only offers a better experience, but it also offers the potential for significant cost savings. Level's self-insured dental and vision products let companies offer more coverage to their teams while often cutting nearly 20 percent from their benefits budget. In a time where employers are taking bigger roles in their team's wellness, Level is helping them offer more robust benefits for less.

"Employers already spend so much money on benefits, and neither they nor their teams get enough out of it," said Jana Messerschmidt from Lightspeed Venture Partners. "Businesses of all sizes need to compete for talent with innovative benefits that help people get more from their paychecks. Level offers a far superior employee experience, and you're getting bang for your buck. It's a win-win."

Next up, Level will launch new modern plans tailored for small businesses. Level is investing in innovative insurance approaches--even creating a captive and holding risk--to make big benefits available to small businesses that typically only enterprises offer. The full suite of products will allow companies of all sizes--from 2 employees to 20,000--to provide better benefits for their teams.

"If anyone can make paying with benefits feel simple, it's Level," said Samir Kaul from Khosla Ventures. "Paul's expertise in payments at Square combined with his insurance knowledge from Oscar uniquely qualifies him to tackle this problem. Level can do for insurance and benefits what Square Cash did for person-to-person payments--and his team comes straight from building similarly transformative products."

About Level
Level builds financial products for people-first businesses. Level makes it easy for people to pay with their benefits dollars, while helping businesses and their teams save money. Starting with dental and vision, Level is rebuilding insurance to create more coverage through straight-forward plans, flexible networks, and fast payments. The founding team comes from companies that have simplified payments and insurance, like Square, Oscar, and Uber. Level started in 2018 in New York City, and is backed by Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, First Round, Homebrew, BoxGroup, and Precursor Ventures. Learn more at level.com.

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