Cigna Latest Health Insurer To Increase Venture Spending On Startups And Digital Tech

Cigna is the newest well being insurer to extend spending on startup companies and digital well being with one other $450 million headed to its enterprise fund.

Cigna announced plans to spend $1.25 billion in capital expenditures and a further $450 million of funding to Cigna Ventures at a time medical health insurance corporations are in a race to develop new expertise, significantly within the digital well being enviornment. Cigna mentioned the $450 million extra dedication is a complete quantity for its “second fund” and nearly double the preliminary capital dedication of $250 million the insurer introduced in 2018.

Already, different giant medical health insurance corporations together with the Aetna unit of CVS Well being, Anthem and different Blue Cross and Blue Defend plans are investing billions of {dollars} in entrepreneurial ventures, startups and partnerships. UnitedHealth Group’s Optum in 2017 launched Optum Ventures with an preliminary $250 million to develop early-stage healthcare corporations and has regularly ramped up such funding.

In Cigna’s case, the corporate’s extra $450 million funding in Cigna Ventures can be centered on “insights and analytics; digital well being and expertise; and care supply and enablement.”

Cigna mentioned it has made 20 such investments in recent times that embody an array of startups and corporations equivalent to “Ginger, Omada, Buoy, Cricket Well being, BabyScripts and extra,” an organization spokeswoman mentioned. “Cigna Ventures invests in areas of strategic curiosity to Cigna and the place we are able to associate with an entrepreneur to assist the start-up develop and in addition present worth to Cigna’s prospects, purchasers and suppliers.”