Thatch raises $108M Series C, becomes the only unicorn in the individual health benefits space.

We’ve raised nearly $200M from top VCs. Here are 10 lessons on taking VC funding I learned the hard way: 1. Friends, family, startup - pick two. 2. 99% of VC advice boils down to “have you thought about growing faster?” 3. More money cannot fix a lack of focus. 4. Your vision gets meetings, but FOMO gets term sheets. 5. Picking an investor is like picking a spouse. Don’t get married after one date. 6. Raise more than you need, and spend like you’ll never raise again. 7. Investors pass on generational companies every day. Don’t take it personally. 8. Never forget: your valuation is not your value. 9. Your last round is old news. You’re only as good as your latest quarter. 10. Raising VC is not for everyone, but it was for us. The right investors made all the difference.

Today marks @thatch_ai's 5 year anniversary. 5 years in, here are the 5 lessons I keep coming back to: 1. The right team matters infinitely more than the right idea. 2. Separate your ego from your hypothesis, and you’ll value “getting it right” over “being right.” 3. A great culture is simultaneously intense, reasonable, and kind. 4. A powerful mission changes you before it changes the world. 5. Integrity is always the correct business decision in the fullness of time.

Get recommended the best health insurance plan for you? How novel!

Manifesto from Thatch.

The five-year-old startup raised $108 million from The General Partnership, Index Ventures, General Catalyst, and Andreessen Horowitz. spr.ly/6018BGr6Iw

Thatch CEO @chrisellisdc says healthcare has the wrong incentives because your insurer doesn’t have to win your business, your employer already chose it for you: "The problem is there's no penalty for denying a claim. If you're working at a company that offers a health plan and your claim gets denied, who are you petitioning to? You don't get to change the insurance. It's decided for you by your employer." "In a world where consumers choose and you have an experience, whether it's customer service, a claim denial, or another issue, if you have an experience that's really bad, you could just switch. You're no longer locked into a single carrier." "It's that ability to switch and an ability for the consumer to express their preference in an open market that is what ultimately changes the shape of supply in that market." "Our long-term vision is to reorder the incentives around making consumers happy. When people make consumers happy, carriers, pharma firms, everybody will make more money, and it will be a win-win for everyone." @thatch_ai

Healthcare costs keep rising and employees want access to treatments like GLP-1s, which is exactly why Thatch is experiencing 7x YoY growth: the shift to consumer-directed health has reached its inflection point.

"There is no Apple of healthcare. There is no Airbnb of healthcare." We believe every major consumer market has been rebuilt around the individual except healthcare. Congratulations to @thatch_ai on their $108M Series C to create a healthcare system people love. Thatch gives employees a health budget from their employer to buy whatever plan fits their life. We’re proud to triple down on our partnership with @chrisellisdc, Adam Stevenson, and the team. Watch Alex Tran in conversation with Chris and Adam. Chapters 00:00 — How a WWII Wage Freeze Built America's Healthcare System 05:35 — Losing Parents to Cancer and Starting Thatch 09:07 — Inside the Thatch Product 14:38 — Why the Hardest Healthcare Problems Are Fintech Problems 20:49 — AI That Calls Your Doctor to Confirm It's In Network 25:55 — Unbundling Healthcare From Employment 31:32 — Lessons From Switzerland and Singapore

Today, we're announcing @thatch_ai raised a $108M Series C at a $1B valuation from @thegp, @IndexVentures, @generalcatalyst, @a16z. The idea we're betting on: healthcare serves whoever controls the dollar. For 80 years that's been the employer. We think it should be you. Employers typically choose one health plan for everyone. We think there's a better model: give people a health budget and let them choose the insurance and care that fits their life. That is the idea behind Thatch. ARR has grown nearly 7x in the last twelve months, and more than 5,000 employers now use Thatch. None of this happens without our team, or without the employers who believe that their people know what their families need better than they ever could. We're building a healthcare system people love by changing how we fund it.

We had some real fun recording this with our friends at @a16zBioHealth Give it a listen in the link below! 👇

💡Insights from Local Builders and Innovators @TaylorCapito of @GenRait_Inc joined Austin Tech Connect with @thomsinger, discussing tech impacting humanity, innovation, Star Trek, and even Flubber. Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas… @thatch_ai co-founders Chris Ellis and Adam Stevenson discussed consumer-driven health insurance on @a16zBioHealth's Raising Health podcast. The long term potential is "more flexible, localized plans, with individuals choosing the add-ons that work best for them at that moment in their lives.” Listen here: a16z.com/podcast/the-freedom…