We are not all the same. Yet health plans and employers seem to think so. They keep designing benefits programs and health plans in a one-size-fits-all approach. What each of us can do to be healthier and reduce healthcare costs for ourselves and our employers or health plans is different. So why is it that almost all employers and health plans offer exactly the same incentives to all people to be healthier and reduce costs? This makes no sense.

Today, I am very excited to announce our investment in Jiff, a healthcare IT company that personalizes incentives for people so we are rewarded for doing what makes sense for us as individuals to be healthier and save healthcare costs. Moreover, Jiff delivers incentives to people through the most engaging web and mobile software products we have ever seen in healthcare. By engaging more people through personalized incentives, employees, employers, and health plans all achieve large savings and people will be healthier. Jiff does this by connecting people to the fast growing ecosystem of tools, products, and services used by employers and health plans through their platform, with more choices. In addition, Jiff has built the most engaging activity based challenge on the market today that works with every type of fitness tracker and device.

It’s no secret that we at Venrock are very involved in this sector and have high hopes for the capacity for technology to fix healthcare, so we are thrilled to add Jiff to the family. We see many synergies with Jiff and our existing portfolio. As an investment, Jiff is consistent with our strategy of investing in companies that help employers get more value for their healthcare expenses. We are also optimistic that more employers will use Jiff to take advantage of the 50% increase in economic incentives that employers can offer workers to participate in wellness programs as part of the Affordable Care Act.

Finally, at Venrock, we back great teams. Founders, James Currier, Stan Chudnovsky, and CEO Derek Newell have built a world-class team who will continue to innovate in ways that will make Jiff exceptional. We cannot wait to help Jiff grow faster, achieve more, and become our next great healthcare IT company!