Excited to announce our investment in the $5.8M seed for Siftwell, a health analytics company that provides reports and insights to payors around their members. The investors include AlleyCorp, Arkin Health, and Charlotte Fund. Tau Ventures is an AI-first fund in Silicon Valley investing primarily in mature seed, typically when there is a pipeline of customers, but occasionally we take earlier or later bets when there is exceptional promise. We found Siftwell to be intriguing in several areas: (1) strong need, (2) seasoned team of operators and entrepreneurs, and (3) strong early traction.
1) The Need – Large Untapped Market
Advanced predictive data analytics within healthcare is rapidly evolving. Health plans have less-than-accurate insights into which of their members are likely to incur the highest expenses over the coming year. Small and medium payors especially have no – or limited – capital and internal data science resources, and are now feeling the pressure to improve their tech in order to stay relevant with the big ones. Siftwell’s cutting-edge AI capabilities and deep healthcare experience outperform the leading risk identification tool. The team understands operations of these community health plans and can bridge the gap from insights to operations. They outperform at the level of predicting the “who” – which members need to be on the plan’s radar now. They also provide context around the “why” and the “what to do about it.”
2) The Team
In making this investment, our primary focus is on the exceptional founders driving the startup’s vision. The cofounders include experienced operators – Trey and Chuck – who have built their careers in healthcare and know each other well. They are joined by Eben – a successful repeat entrepreneur – who Trey has known well for a few years. Our investment reflects our confidence in the founders’ intricate understanding of the healthcare – particularly the payor – system, deep networks in the space, and their ability to build on and execute their vision to drive early customers and ultimate success of this promising venture.
3) Strong Early Traction
In 2023, Siftwell gained strong early momentum, securing three community-based clients, including Mountain Health CO-OP, Alliance Health, and more. The acquisition of each client serves as a compelling testament to the indispensable value of Siftwell’s blend of deep managed care proficiency and cutting-edge predictive and prescriptive analytics. Siftwell is poised for substantial growth over the next year. The funds will be strategically allocated to bolster the Siftwell team and the evolution of the platform, prioritizing product development and market expansion initiatives. This investment marks a significant stride toward realizing the vision of empowering community health plans nationwide to better meet the needs of their members’ health.
Originally published on “Data Driven Investor.” Primary author of this article is Sonal Panda co-written with Amit Garg. These are purposely short articles focused on practical insights (we call it gl;dr — good length; did read). See here for other such articles. If this article had useful insights for you, comment away and/or give a like on the article and on the Tau Ventures’ LinkedIn page, with due thanks for supporting our work. All opinions expressed here are from the author(s).
