Maxwell Health’s quest to simplify the mind-numbing tasks of buying health insurance and administering other employee benefits will now continue under the wing of one of the startup’s investors.
Boston-based Maxwell announced Monday it has been acquired by Sun Life Financial (NYSE: SLF), a Toronto, Canada-based company that sells insurance and provides a variety of financial services. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Maxwell was founded in 2012 by CEO Veer Gidwaney and his brother, Vinay. As Gidwaney told Xconomy in 2016, the goal was to update human resources processes that for many small and medium-sized businesses remain stuck in the 20th century (think paper or outdated software), and make it as easy to manage benefits as it is to use something like Netflix. Maxwell is part of a wave of companies trying to transform the health insurance and HR industries through new software technologies—see also Zenefits, Namely, and Oscar Health.
Maxwell provides Web-based software for buying and managing health insurance plans and other benefits, runs an online marketplace for other human resources and health-related services, and offers a mobile app where users can access digital versions of their insurance cards and find answers to their health and benefits questions.
Maxwell previously raised at least $56.4 million from investors, including GIS Strategic Ventures, an investing arm of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America; Cambia Health Solutions; Lerer Hippeau Ventures; and Sun Life. Sun Life also sells life, disability, and other types of insurance on Maxwell’s benefits marketplace.
Now as part of Sun Life, Maxwell will continue to operate its business, while also helping to enhance its parent company’s capabilities, according to a press release. Maxwell currently employs 125 people, down from 150 employees in March 2016.
“With Sun Life, we are excited to expand the reach of our platform with brokers and carriers nationwide,” Gidwaney said in a prepared statement.
