Canopy Financial, which provides healthcare banking technology solutions and services, has raised $8 million in venture capital to fund continued technology development for consumer-driven healthcare.
The company also said it would use the funds to expand its flagship product, HealthDirect.
San Franciso-based Canopy secured the funds from Foundation Capital, a venture capital firm. Earlier this year, Canopy raised about $15 million in a funding round from GGV Capital.
Canopy's HealthDirect is an administration and account management platform for health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts and health reimbursement arrangements, said Vik Kashyap, Canopy's CEO.
Kashyap said the company's system is used by several large carriers, pharmacy benefit managers and healthcare insurance brokers.
After some initial hype surrounding such consumer-centric products, it appears that employers are embracing the approach, the company said, quoting results from a recent survey that found that 43 percent of employers will offer HSAs or HRAs to their workers.
"Despite some of the earlier problems and hype, these are the real things and they're ready for prime time," Kashyap said.
He described Canopy's HealthDirect as a full end-to-end healthcare banking system comprising marketing, education, plan advisory services and the technology and intellectual property to support account management.
"Companies that have initially moved aggressively have been banks," he said. "This is right in the crosshairs of what a bank does - handling deposits - and HSAs are an attractive source of new deposits. If a health savings account is being managed by the bank, they are able to own the whole customer experience and create a better relationship with the customer."
Employers can use HealthDirect capabilities as well to measure cost savings and provide customer service.