Google invests $32.5 million in health insurance start-ups

Google Capital, Google's investment fund, has invested $32.5m in Health Insurance start-up Oscar, which is valued at $1.75bn, the Wall Street Journal reported.
, which was founded a year ago, completed a $145 million financing in April, valued at $1.5 billion. Oscar, which allows users to talk to doctors on the phone for free, is also the first insurance company to offer a fitness tracker to reward those who walk a certain number of steps a day.
, chief executive of Oscars, told BI earlier this year that the company already has more than 40 million users in New Jersey and New York. Soon, the Oscars will expand to Texas and California.
Wall Street Journal that Oscar now raises more than $300m, some of which will be used to cover losses. The company lost a total of $27.5 million last year, up from $56.9 million in 2014, according to Oscar's report to New York's insurance regulator.
Oscars were co-founded by entrepreneur and venture capital investor Joshua Kushner, Kevin Nazemi, a former head of Microsoft's health division, and Mario Schlosser, a former computer expert at McKinsey, who has rivals such as Aetna and UnitedHealth.
2014, Oscar had only 15,000 signed users, but it's growing rapidly. Oscar users can buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and the company uses its unique technology and design to make its reports and services easier to understand.
schlosser said in April that Oscar's market share had risen to 12%. "The biggest reason we decided to refinance was that we thought we saw a lot more opportunities in the first world than we had expected," he said. We had a clear idea three years ago to develop a better user interface and the most specific health insurance for the healthcare industry. (Tencent Technology)