New York medical billing startup Cedar closes $200M in Series C funding at $3.2 billion valuation

We wrote about Cedar almost a year ago after the New York-based medical billing startup raised $102M in Series C funding led by Andreessen Horowitz to accelerate the growth of its patient payment and engagement platform.

Today, Cedar announced it has closed $200M in Series D financing making Cedar a member of the unicorn club at a $3.2 billion valuation. Cedar said it will use the new capital infusion to continue meeting skyrocketing demand for the exceptional, patient-centric digital health experiences provided through its platform.

The round, which brings the total funding raised to date to more than $350 million, was led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Thrive Capital, and Concord Health Partners.

This funding comes at a time when meeting and exceeding consumer preferences around digital experiences is no longer optional for healthcare providers. As COVID-19 has accelerated the digital shift in healthcare, demand for Cedar’s product has increased significantly, with the company quadrupling its business throughout 2020.

Since the onset of the pandemic, 40% more patients have switched providers over a poor digital experience and almost 50% wish their digital health experience was more intuitive, similar to Netflix, Amazon, or Uber. Providers are looking for partners to help them deliver top-notch patient experiences and turning to platforms that prioritize the end-to-end patient journey, including the financial experience. Through thoughtful workflows and empathetic design, Cedar’s core platform delivers a modern consumer experience.

Founded in 2016 by Arel Lidow and Florian Otto, Cedar is a healthcare financial engagement platform for hospitals, health systems and medical groups that clarifies and simplifies the financial experience for patients, improving bill resolution and payment outcomes for providers. Today, Cedar now partners with more than 35 healthcare providers across the United States, including Yale New Haven Health (YNHHS), Summit CityMD, Novant Health and ChristianaCare

Cedar’s platform leverages advanced data science to customize and simplify the payment experience, resulting in a modern, consumer-friendly way for patients to plan for and pay their bills. Cedar is PCI and HIPAA compliant, and HITRUST certified. Novant Health and Cedar expect to roll-out the new engagement and billing platform before the end of 2020.

“Now more than ever, patients deserve a healthcare experience that prioritizes their needs, and yet there are still so many problems on the financial side, which negatively impact their medical journey,” said Florian Otto, CEO and co-founder of Cedar. “Our mission has always been to enable exceptional patient experiences and transform healthcare. With this funding, we are in a position to further extend our footprint, help relieve financial burdens for patients and continue innovating to respond to ongoing shifts in the healthcare industry.”

Since launching in 2016, Cedar has experienced significant growth resulting from its industry-leading levels of patient satisfaction, digital engagement, and bill resolution, now engaging with more than 300,000 patients a day. And while healthcare providers typically see a 30% lift in patient payments, Cedar also helps nearly 3-in-4 health system patients who interact with its platform avoid collections by providing clarity into healthcare costs and pathways to affordability, all while maintaining an 88% patient satisfaction score.

“Cedar has emerged as the market-leading, a technology-enabled platform helping patients resolve their medical bills in ways that are easier and more relevant, resulting in improved financials for healthcare providers. We are very excited to back Florian and the team as they continue to optimize patient-centric financial engagement in healthcare,” said Scott Shleifer of Tiger Global Management.