Chapter, a Medicare navigation and advisory firm, picked up $75 million to build out its technology and new products and ink more partnerships with health systems.
The company has raised around $185 million to date and it's latest round propels it to a $1.5 billion valuation, according to media reports. The series D was led by private equity and venture firm Stripes with participation from all major investors XYZ Venture Capital, Susa Ventures, Addition, Narya Capital and Maverick Ventures.
Chapter was co-founded by Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz, Corey Metzman and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in 2020. Chapter told Fast Company that Ramaswamy stepped down from the board when he ran for office and is no longer involved in the company.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance co-founded venture capital firm Narya Capital, which was an early investor in Chapter and backed the series D round.
The fundraise comes less than one year after Chapter’s $50 million series C round.
Chapter will use the funding to expand its enterprise partnerships with health systems, financial institutions and content creators and build more products and tools to help individuals navigate the Medicare experience.
Blumenfeld-Gantz worked in business development at Palantir Technologies then left to co-found Chapter five years ago.
He and his co-founders watched their parents struggle to navigate the maze of Medicare and recognized the need for a better user experience.
"We wanted to start a company that puts seniors first and treats them as a customer rather than the insurance carrier," Blumenfeld-Gantz told Fierce Healthcare.
Over the past year, Chapter experienced 4x enrollment growth and continues to build on that momentum through 2025.
The company has a unique go-to-market strategy, Blumenfeld-Gantz said, with very little direct-to-consumer advertising, which is the standard default in the Medicare business. "We instead partner with amazing institutions, health systems, financial services firms, content sites, and support them and their audiences and patients and clients as they're navigating Medicare," he said.
"We now partner with many of the top health systems in the country, many regional health systems as well, and academic medical centers to be a strategic partner and to help their patients navigate all the changes that are happening," he said.
Chapter Medicare advisors help individuals enroll, compare Medicare options, and choose the coverage that best fits their needs, according to the company. Chapter's advisors and tech platform help individuals choose Medicare health plans analyzing doctors, hospitals and prescription drug coverage.
“Navigating Medicare is needlessly complex. Too many people end up with plans that cost more and cover less than they should,” Blumenfeld-Gantz said. “At a time when the regulatory environment and Medicare ecosystem is rapidly changing, we remain committed to bringing transparency and trust to a system that desperately needs it.”
Chapter also uses artificial intelligence to provide its advisors with the right information and data to help guide decisions, or what Blumenfeld-Gantz refers to as "AI copilots" for its Medicare advisors.
Last year, Chapter launched its over-the-counter (OTC) app, which enables Medicare beneficiaries to easily redeem OTC benefits available through their plans. Many Medicare plans include a host of benefits, but these benefits are often difficult to access. Each year, approximately $5 billion of OTC benefits go unused. Chapter has scaled the user base by 20x and signed partnership agreements with large, national retailers to propel growth and support more seniors, according to the company.
Less than a year after raising $50 million, Chapter saw an opportunity for another funding deal with "great partners and great terms," Blumenfeld-Gantz said. "We don't need the cash," he noted.
"For any company that is not an AI company, it’s an interesting time—and every company is an AI company and no company is an AI company," he noted. "I don’t think of Chapter as a healthcare startup, it's a combination of healthcare, fintech and insurance navigation and for companies that are have good metrics and are growing well, it's a fine time to fundraise. A lot of deals are still getting done."
Beyond Medicare navigation services, the company also wants to address "broader retirement needs," he said. "We think about it across health, wealth and time, and helping people with their healthcare and ensure that they have the money to spend in retirement and live retired in the way that they want," he noted.
“Chapter is reshaping one of the most consequential — and confusing — decisions in someone’s life as they enter retirement: their health coverage,” said Ron Shah, partner at Stripes, who will be joining Chapter’s Board of Directors. “The Chapter team has taken a fundamentally innovative approach to this complex problem by reimagining the technology and data stack from the ground up in order to deliver far superior guidance to America’s seniors. We are thrilled to support their vision as they expand a platform that’s already made a meaningful difference for so many.”