Medical body Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s corporate venturing unit managed by Sandbox Industries has invested $9m in Essence Group, parent company of medical technology company Lumeris.
Essence raised $61m from venture capital groups Camden Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers earlier this year.
Michael Long, executive chairman of Essence since May after he joined from the same role at peer Healtheon/WebMD, said: "Our investment offering was oversubscribed, but this presented a unique opportunity to add such high-quality, industry-savvy new partners to our team. We are extremely pleased to expand our offering to $70m to deliver the industry’s best accountable care technologies and services for transforming the US health care system."
Matt Downs, managing director of Sandbox Industries, added: "We were impressed with the quality and scope of Lumeris’ solutions, the depth and experience of their management and the company’s recent successes with customers including a large Blue Cross and Blue Shield company [in Florida, signed in June last year]."