Cedar develops patient-personalized medical billing software for health systems and physician groups.

Cedar has just raised $77 million in Series C equity funding led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Other participants in the round included Kaiser Permanente and Concord Health Solutions, as well as existing investors, Kinnevik, Thrive Capital, Lakestar, and Founders Fund. The startup raised an additional $25 million in venture debt provided by JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM). (CISION PR Newswire)

Andreessen Horowitz Managing Partner Scott Kupor will join Cedar’s board of directors.

Cedar addresses patient billing pains

Cedar’s odyssey started with the unpleasant billing experience that founder Florian Otto’s wife had at a hospital. She received a mound of paper bills and had to call to pay her dues. But it didn’t end there. The hospital later demanded a supplementary bill for an MRI and had to fax her payment. To top it all, she then faced a collections call for a bill they never sent her.

Otto determined to improve matters and tied up with co-founder Arel Lidow to float Cedar in New York in 2016.

“There is a huge unmet need to improve the financial experience as the experience for patients is basically still stuck in the 1980s,” Otto told Fierce Healthcare.

Cedar’s healthcare financial management platform clarifies and simplifies the financial experience for patients, and improves the description and resolution of their bills. It also streamlines the flow of payments to providers.

“Patients deserve a modern, convenient and transparent financial experience with their healthcare providers — one that begins the moment a patient seeks out medical assistance and that continues throughout the entire care journey, including billing, payment, and administrative resolution,” writes Otto in a blog announcing the latest fundraise. “This, in turn, helps ensure that health systems get paid for the valuable services provided.”

COVID-19

In a press statement, Otto said the COVID-19 pandemic had exposed the shortcomings of the current healthcare system, which resulted in patients seeking out a platform such as Cedar.

Cedar will use the new funds to expand its reach and to accelerate product innovation and expansion.

Cedar has raised a total capital of $157 million to date.

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