Healthcare analytics startup based by early Amazon worker lands $6.5M

Seattle healthcare analytics startup Abett raised $6.5 million to boost its software that helps employers get a handle on benefits data.

Launched in 2019, the company pitches an enterprise software solution to large employers that legally transfers HR and benefits data from various stakeholders. The goal is to allow these companies to be able to analyze what is being done with the capital they spend on health plans.

“In the traditional model, the employer is completely cut out of all the economic transactions,” founder and CEO Mike Hanlon told GeekWire. “The employer is pumping money into the system, but they can’t observe anything, let alone intervene.”

Hanlon was the seventh employee hired by Amazon, working on operations and software development from 1995 to 2001. He also worked as an economics professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a University of Washington research organization that studies global health statistics.

This is the second startup that Hanlon founded called Abett. The first iteration was a web app that allowed users to ask questions and crowdsource answers. However, that company shut down shortly after it was profiled by GeekWire in 2017, he said.

One of the legal tailwinds driving Abett’s business model was the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act, which restricts information-blocking by providers and carriers over consumer healthcare data. Hanlon said the legislation made it clear that the data belonged to the employers who are sponsoring the plan and the individuals who are represented by it.

This data is valuable to an employer because it lets them to see where money is flowing, giving them the opportunity to manage costs and reduce spending. Abett is among the first wave of products that is specifically targeting this market opportunity, Hanlon said.

The startup works with large employers, including multiple Fortune 10 companies. Hanlon declined to name specific customers. The startup’s data partners include CVS Pharmacy, United Healthcare and Travelers Insurance, among others.

The round was led by GreatPoint Ventures. Abett closed two previous rounds, in 2020 and 2021, with the first led by Stage Venture Partners and the other by NextGen Venture Partners. The startup has raised a total of $12.1 million.