New York-based Redesign Health, an incubator for healthcare startups, has launched Beanstalk Benefits, which provides employees direct access to a bouquet of customizable benefits. Based in Philadelphia, Beanstalk emerged with seed funding of $7.5 million.
“We saw a gap because people’s needs often shift during the year, after open enrollment. But typical benefits programs aren’t flexible, and they don’t give busy employees a way to easily find resources and adapt their own portfolios to personal circumstances,” said Beanstalk CEO Matthew Sydney, who has previously led multiple healthcare companies.
Direct Access
“Beanstalk lets employers put the benefits decision-making into individual employees’ hands, while employers get aggregated, apples-to-apples data on how employees use their benefits,” he added.
Beanstalk’s range of benefits covers mind, body, lifestyle, family and money. Its platform gives employees direct access to build their portfolio of benefits, and pay for them via employer-sponsored programs or from their own personal accounts.
Sydney, who received a master’s degree in Public Health and Epidemiology from Emory University, is a healthcare industry veteran, with particular expertise in the benefits space. In 2014, he took HealthEquity public and later led Picwell, a University of Pennsylvania spinoff that developed software to match users with benefits. Picwell was acquired by Jellyvision in early 2023.
‘Intuitive’ Appeal
Several dozen firms are now offering services on Beanstalk. They include BeMe for teen wellbeing, Upswing Health’s on-demand joint and muscle pain solution, parenting resource Vitalxchange, and sobriety app Sober Sidekick.
Commercial Real Estate
MacKenzie Companies
Advertising / Media / Communications / Public Relations
Nevins & Associates
Financial Services / Investment Firms
Chesapeake Corporate Advisors
Commercial Real Estate
Monday Properties
Venture Capital
Blue Delta Capital Partners
Internet / Technology
Foxtrot Media
“I’ve never seen a more intuitive way for employees to find and pay for everyday benefits,” said Dr. Steven Schutzer, co-founder and chief medical officer for Upswing Health. “Beanstalk has essentially given us access to a retail market through a single contract that could potentially reach millions of employees.”
Beanstalk is in pre-revenue stage, and has a team of eight. Sydney hopes to expand the team to 12 by the end of the year and double headcount in 2025, Business Journal said.
Redesign Health calls itself an innovation platform that nurtures health startups, helping them build business models and bringing them to market. Since 2018, it has launched over 60 companies.
