Benefit Navigation Firm Evive Receives $43M From Single Investor

Evive, a Chicago-based healthcare benefits navigation company, announced its first-ever external investment today. And it isn’t a small one.

Susquehanna Growth Equity injected $43 million into the 10-year-old company, which says it will use the funding to fuel its expansion “across the entire benefits spectrum.” Evive’s predictive analytics platform is designed to give businesses and their employees a better understanding of their benefits plan, in order to inform healthcare decision-making. They call their data set “the industry’s most robust.”

"It's clear from talking to Evive's blue-chip roster of clients and HR thought leaders that the company is leading the way forward,” Susquehanna Growth Equity’s managing director, Scott Feldman, said in a statement.

In 2017, Evive expanded its leadership team in preparation for growth. Co-founders Peter Saravis and Prashant Srivastava shuffled roles, with Srivastava taking over the CEO title from Saravis, who was named Executive Chairman. The company created a new C-suite position, a Chief Commercial Officer, and elevated several employees into new executive roles.

"When Prashant and I started Evive, we saw that there was nothing consumer friendly about consuming health care—so we set out to remove the complexity and bridge the gaps between people and their benefits. Despite the technological innovations of the past 10 years, this part of our mission remains unchanged," Saravis said at the time.

The company indicated that its executive reorganization was to support development of a “next-generation engagement platform.” In today’s investment announcement, it said that the financial backing would accelerate its product innovations.

Susquehanna Growth Equity invests heavily on web communications technology, and has backed brands like Outbrain and Credit Karma in large funding rounds. Saravis complimented the firm’s “proven track record” in supporting software companies long-term.

Feldman cited rapid growth in the benefits navigation space as a motivating factor in the investment. The space is beginning to crowd, with most of its key players appearing in the last decade or so. As recently as November, a new startup called Rightway Healthcare launched with a $2 million seed round.

The $43 million that Evive announced today may set the company apart from some of the smaller startups. But the giant in the field remains Castlight Health, which is publicly-traded and has raised over $180 million since its 2008 founding.