DLJ's Sprout Group Leads $42 MillionInvestment In eHealthInsurance.com
January 27, 2000 08:32 AM
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 27, 2000--Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc. DLJ announced today that the Sprout Group, DLJ's venture capital affiliate, led a $42 million second round financing in eHealthInsurance.com, (www.eHealthInsurance.com), the leading place for purchasing health insurance online. The company is based in Sunnyvale, Calif. The funding will be used to build brand awareness and expand company operations, as well as increasing its selection of health insurance options to address a broader category of individual consumers, small businesses, and seniors.
"eHealthInsurance.com is the premier player in the health insurance e-commerce marketplace and we are excited about investing in the company's future," said Kathy LaPorte, general partner, Sprout Group. "They are committed to giving people and small businesses an easily accessible way to learn that health insurance is affordable and attainable, and they deliver the best customer experience."
Vip Patel, founder and chairman of eHealthInsurance, said, "We have built tremendous momentum to date and we'll accelerate our leadership even further with our new round of financing, including the highly-respected Sprout Group. We're now well positioned to aggressively address a broader market of customers and increase significantly the pace of our marketing."
Founded in 1997, eHealthInsurance.com is the leading place for purchasing health insurance online. Its technology was responsible for the nation's first Internet-based sale of a health insurance policy. Consumers and small companies can access a range of health insurance and provider information, obtain rate quotes, complete enrollment applications and purchase health insurance online. The site offers health plans covering over 80% of the US population. The company's management team and board include former or current executives of Healtheon, Pacificare, Foundation Health, Aetna, United Healthcare, Lincoln National, Metlife and other companies in the field.
The Sprout Group, with offices in New York, Menlo Park and Chicago, is one of the oldest and largest groups providing private equity capital to growing companies. Sprout has helped finance more than 300 companies in the last 30 years, whose combined sales exceed $40 billion. Sprout has significant experience in helping to grow Internet companies, with active investments including Avici, CheMatch, Ennovate, Family Education Network, FogDog FOGD , GlobeSpan GSPN , GroceryWorks, Healtheon/WebMD HLTH , iAsiaWorks, MarketFirst, Mondera.com, mySimon, NetLibrary, Paradyne PDYN , Perfecto Technologies, Quintus QNTS , ReSolutions Group, Rhythms NetConnections RTHM , Rotor Communications, Tavolo, and Worldwide Fiber. For further information on the Sprout Group, please visit our web site at www.sproutgroup.com.
CONTACT: Sprout Group Kathy LaPorte, 650/234-2700 or Donley Communications Lorraine Spenser, 212/751-6126
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