SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 26 /PRNewswire/-- eHealthInsurance.com (eHealthInsurance.com), the leader in Internet-based sales of health insurance, today officially announced it has raised $12 million from venture capitalists Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and Weiss, Peck & Greer. Complementing several years of private financing, this round of institutional investment is intended to dramatically accelerate nationwide expansion and demand to the site.

"The quality of our investors is consistent with our commitment to offer the highest quality products and service in our industry segment," said Vip Patel, CEO and Founder of eHealthInsurance.com. "In each state we serve, we offer a broad selection of top-quality health plans. In addition to providing rate quotes, eHealthInsurance.com is the only website that enables consumers to fill out applications from multiple health plans directly online. Our proven technology also speeds the approval process. Through development of advanced technology, strategic relationships and top e-commerce investors, we are creating a category leader that will dramatically improve the process by which consumers evaluate and purchase health insurance."

"Health insurance is the biggest product segment in the nation's biggest industry, health care," said Joseph Lacob, General Partner of KPCB. We looked at everything in the insurance area, particularly health insurance, and believe that eHealthInsurance.com represents the best-of-breed, pure-play investment in this e-commerce space. We were particularly impressed with the company's business model, management team, and vision to transform the health insurance industry.

According to Chris Schaepe, General Partner of Weiss, Peck & Greer, "eHealthInsurance.com offers a compelling value proposition to consumers of individual and family policies today with additional products for small businesses planned over time. By offering health insurance online through a well-designed user interface, the company simplifies the process of information gathering and comparison shopping while streamlining the application procedure. Furthermore, the web site provides service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with call center agents available for help at any time. Based on the success of Internet brokers in other industry sectors, such as home mortgages, we believe that the Internet health insurance brokerage business is poised for dramatic growth."

About eHealthInsurance.com

eHealthInsurance.com, the leader in online sales of health insurance, is privately-held and backed by top-tier venture capitalists. The company was founded in 1997 and its technology was responsible for the nation's first Internet-based sale of a health insurance policy. Today, the site offers health plans in multiple states, and is on track to cover the entire U.S. by the end of 1999. The company's management team and board include current or former executives of Healtheon, Pacificare, Foundation Health, Aetna, United Healthcare, Lincoln National, MetLife, and other companies in the field. Please direct inquires to eHealthinsurance.com or call 408-541-4180.

About Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is widely regarded as a premier venture capital firm specializing in Internet and technology investments. Kleiner Perkins has raised over $1.2 billion in capital and has invested in companies whose total market value exceeds $150 billion. Kleiner's investments have included Sun Microsystems, Intuit, America Online, Amazon.com, Netscape, Excite, @Home, Healtheon, iVillage and SportsLine USA.

About Weiss, Peck & Greer

Founded in 1971, Weiss, Peck & Greer is one of the oldest and most active technology venture firms in the Silicon Valley. The partnership is noted for early-stage investments in the areas of electronic commerce, Internet software and communications. Weiss, Peck & Greer has over $700 million under management and has backed over 250 companies including eGreetings, eMusic, Homeshark, Brocade, Ciena, Federal Express, Galileo Technology, KIVA, Maker Communications, Metasolv, Quantum Effect Design and Terayon.

SOURCE eHealthInsurance.com
Web Site: eHealthInsurance.com
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