Tom Paine
Brightside, which provides. tools to help companies’ employees stay on the right financial track with their personal finances, announced a $35.1 million Series A investment today.
The round was led by Andreesson Horowitz, with Comcast Ventures, Trinity Ventures and others also participating..Tom Spann, who founded employee health navigation company Accolade, which now has a valuation of $620 milli9n, is trying to replicate his success with healthcare by taking a similar approach to financial management. Accolade filed for an IPO back in February.
in its announcement, Brightside said it would have three headquarters: Chandler, AZ, San Fransisco, and Philadelphia, though Philadelphia presently has only a handful of the 103 employees listed on LinkedIn. The presence of Andreesson Horowitz, along with continued support from Comcast Ventures, is important.
Andreesson Horowitz also led a large round in Acccolade, so presumably its reasonably pleased with that investment and Spann as a founder. Spann cut his last formal tie with Accolade late last year, leaving its board to focus on being CEO of Brightside.
There is definitely a sense of missionary zeal about Spann, a belief in doing good, but nonetheless the venture must make financial. sense. Brigthside claims to put $1200 per year back in the pockets of the average employee, a number that seems low but honest. Expenses must. be measured against that number. Also, there must be limits on how far you can go in advising employees without running into regulatory issues.
Its still an unproven concept. Comcast as a client has been a test case.