We’ve seen payment solutions mature in the e-commerce and brick and mortar space with companies such as Klarna, Affirm, or Paidy leading the way. Yet, digital payment solutions in the healthcare industry are still early and the checkout process remains unnecessarily frustrating for both offices and patients. We’re excited to announce that Jasper, an end-to-end healthcare payments platform that helps patients understand and pay for their care, has joined our flagship accelerator program. Jasper’s team is making the payment collections process at check-out easier and more efficient for the healthcare industry, starting with dental offices.
The Nuts & Bolts
Problem: Many Americans struggle to pay their medical bills every year, and dental expenses are no exception. A rise in deductible levels has made it increasingly difficult to afford routine care like dental treatment. Out-of-pocket spending for dental services, which amounted to $60 billion, increased nearly 6% in 2019, according to recent data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
When paying for care, patients often struggle to understand not only the cost of their care, but also the different payment options available. Many patients are referred to pamphlets and brochures when they ask about payment plans.
Solution: Jasper is an online healthcare payments service that simplifies processes for the patient, the provider, and the administrative staff. Patients receive an electronic bill directly to their phone from the office manager and can choose to pay via credit card, HSA, or a Jasper payment plan. If the patient opts for a payment plan, Jasper pays the dentist right away and collects from the patient.
Getting to Know Jasper
We met the Jasper team through our former colleague Neha Khera. The founders left their full-time jobs to start the company in early 2020. Imran Hasan worked in private equity at W.L. Ross, as an investment banker at Barclays, and was on the risk team at GE. Muriel Chen was the founder of edtech startup ClassCrew, worked in healthcare equity research at Credit Suisse, and in finance at Genentech. Their backgrounds in finance and healthcare made them expertly suited to lead Jasper.
Why Now?
At a time when the pandemic has exacerbated inequities in healthcare and worsened out-pocket costs, Jasper aims to help facilitate simple and streamlined access to care. Jasper is starting in the dental market because many health plans do not cover dental care. This lack of coverage and affordability leads to a high rate of uninsured patients who would benefit from a user-centric payment plan.
Future of Jasper
Jasper is building the next generation finance platform for private practices by working directly with leaders in the dental market to understand the financing needs of their customers. Currently, the startup is running a beta program with a group of hand-picked offices and looking to grow customers throughout 2021.
If you would like to learn more about companies, sectors, and trends that we are excited about as well as receive invitations to exclusive previews, and expert roundtables, please sign up here.
You can learn more about Jasper at: https://www.jasperhelps.com.
Legal Disclaimers: 500 Startups programs (including accelerator programs), investor education services, strategic partnership consulting services and events are operated by 500 Startups Incubator, L.L.C. (together with its affiliates, “500 Startups”) and the funds advised by 500 Startups Management Company, L.L.C. do not participate in any revenue generated by these activities. Such programs and services are provided for educational and informational purposes only and under no circumstances should any content provided as part of any such programs, services or events be construed as investment, legal, tax or accounting advice by 500 startups or any of its affiliates.
The views expressed here are those of the individual 500 Startups personnel, or other individuals quoted and are not the views of 500 Startups or its affiliates. Certain information contained herein may have been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by 500 Startups. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, 500 Startups has not independently verified such information and makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy of the information in this post or its appropriateness for a given situation. In addition, this content may include third-party advertisements or links; 500 Startups has not reviewed such advertisements and does not endorse any advertising content contained therein.
This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, tax or accounting advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation, offer to sell or solicitation to purchase any investment securities, or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by 500 Startups. (An offering to invest in an 500 Startups fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by 500 Startups, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results.
Charts and graphs provided herein are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Unless otherwise expressly stated, figures are based on internal estimates and have not been independently verified. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. All logos and trademarks of third parties referenced herein are the logos and trademarks of their respective owners and any inclusion of such trademarks or logos does not imply or constitute any approval, endorsement or sponsorship of 500 Startups by such owners.
Please see Section 2 of our Terms of Use for additional important information.
