Health benefits platform Jiff, Inc., announced today that it has raised an additional $17.7 million in Series C funding following a 32% increase in clients and 40% increase in the number of employees on the platform since the beginning of 2016.
The platform also added more health apps and tools this year, including Garmin and MyDietitian.
With this additional boost, the Series C round of funding will close at a total of $41.2 million. The California-based startup will use the funding to further its recent products,
Jiff’s CEO Derek Newell says the company of 120 employees has seen rapid growth since 2014, which he attributes to the platform’s transparency and high engagement rates. A recent analysis of Jiff users showed that 73% of participants used the platform on at least a weekly basis and 35% used it daily. Most users access it on their mobile phones, with the company being self-described as “mobile-first.”
According to the company, Jiff’s utilization rate of money-saving solutions was between two to five times higher than the industry average.
“The biggest way we’ve done this is personalization,” says Newell. Different employees need different resources and “when you get something that’s incredibly relevant to you, you’re much more likely to engage in it.”
He also says the platform provides incentives and is designed to use game mechanics that keep audiences interested even when information is loading. The social aspect of the platform also draws users in – if others in the office is using it, people don’t want to miss out.
But some have expressed concern that employees may not want aspects of their health to be out and available for co-workers to see.
“The choice to be social is always your choice,” Newell says. While employees can choose to share information like weight loss for motivational purposes, they are never obligated to.
Newell says his company is dedicated to protecting employees’ privacy. Only aggregate data is sent to employers, which allows them to spot trends so that they can make informed decisions about health benefits. Personalized data with employee names and identifying information are not disclosed to the employer.
