One of the two founders of Clover Health is set to leave the insurance company which currently has over $400 million from Silicon Valley investors.
The insurance startup’s rise was aided by the huge cash from Silicon Valley, but the company is set to lose of its founders. This negative development is coming a few months after the company was valued by analysts at over $1 billion.
The co-founder Kris Gale already made the announcement to employees last month that he is stepping away from his current role as chief technology officer but will remain attached to the company as its adviser. He, however, didn’t give further details as to why he is departing, though he added that his resignation would be made official by the end of January. In his message to staff, he wrote: “Getting to this point took a lot out of me, and because of that, I can better serve Clover as an adviser going forward.”
Gale founder the company with Vivek Garipalli back in 2014 with the aim of using technology and data to improve preventative health care in the country. The company which is based in San Francisco takes care of health insurance claims and benefits for those who enrolled in Medicare Advantage. The Medicare Advantage is a government insurance program that is made especially for seniors. The government pays Clover Health an agreed amount per annum for each customer, Clover Health, in turn, will insert the plan’s benefits to their patients. The healthcare insurance company stated that it leans on data science to help them find some preventive care strategies that will use the funds in an effective manner.
The company now has services in 15 counties in New Jersey. It has already concluded plans to launch their services in some parts of Georgia, Texas, and Pennsylvania. The company has been able to get roughly $400 million from GV, an arm of Alphabet Inc. and other investors. After their last funding round back in May, the company was valued at $1.2 billion.
Gale in his note to staff stated that the company isn’t looking to replace him as the chief technology officer. Co-founder and CEO Garipalli in an email statement praised his outgoing partner “His vision for our technology platform is well underway, and is managed by an experienced and growing team.For that reason, he felt this was an opportune time to shift from a full-time role into an advisory role and to focus on other areas of his life.
