Hey y’all! We have some exciting news!
Austin’s startup scene is pretty hip right now, with many companies putting down roots in the capital of the Lone Star State. Funding has been on the up and up, with Austin ranking in the top 10 of major U.S. cities when it comes to average amount raised at the seed, early, and late stages. Austin ranks sixth in seed-stage round size, pulling an average of $1.46 million across 228 rounds occurring between 2017 and August 2019.
So why does all this matter?
Because Crunchbase recently featured Decent in an article about Austin’s startup scene. In case you missed it, here’s the gist:
In 2018, we closed an $8 million seed round led by Menlo Ventures and including participation from Foundation Capital. It was a huge step closer to offering health plans with premiums that run 30 to 50 percent lower than typical market rates. In case you didn’t know, two of those plans (the Trailblazer and the Pathfinder) are both currently available only in Austin and will soon be available in other parts of Texas and the country. We plan to use the new capital in part to grow its team over the next year.
So how did we get this far and what are we all about?
Great question. Our founder, Nick Soman, got the idea for Decent after his own unfortunate set of health-related circumstances took quite a toll. During his second year studying to get an MBA at Harvard Business School, he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome. As a result, he spent four months paralyzed in intensive care followed by an additional six months in rehab. Soman worked as a self-employed freelancer after this health scare, and had a sobering realization about how much he was paying for health insurance. This expense was costing more than anything else in his family’s budget. Alas, the idea for Decent was borne, where Soman hopes that he and his team can help freelancers, sole proprietors, and 1099 contractors get access to high-quality, affordable health insurance.
“Health insurance is too expensive, especially for people who buy their own without subsidies. Freelancers are seeing premiums rise by more than 20 percent per year,” Soman said. “The future of work demands the future of insurance.”
Cheers to that and cheers to better, more affordable health care for the self-employed!
