New York-based healthcare plan selection startup Sherpaa has received $1.85m from O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of O’Reilly Media, and venture firms Collaborative Fund and First Round Capital.
O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures led the round. According to a blog post by Robert Bryce, managing director at O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and a personal acquaintance of Sherpaa’s co-founder, Dr. Jay Parkinson, the funds will be used to expand Sherpaa’s network beyond New York to other major US cities including Chicago, San Francisco and Washington DC.
Sherpaa aims to lower employee healthcare costs for other startups and small businesses. Its healthcare professionals assist business owners in selecting the best healthcare plans for their employees. Sherpaa’s network of doctors dispense medical advice round the clock via phone and internet, and can write prescriptions online potentially saving patients a costly trip to the hospital, and a rise in their insurance premiums.
Sherpaa’s clients to date include the high profile blog hosting site Tumblr, and architects CZ studios.
Additionally several angel investors also contributed to this latest round of financing, amongst them John Maloney ex-president of Sherpaa’s current client Tumblr, and Scott Switzer founder of OpenX and Jirafe.
