Spark Advisors raises $3.6 million for its benefits platform

New York-based brokerage Spark Advisors closed a $3.6 million funding round led by Primary Ventures with participation from Vine Ventures and Torch Capital.

According to the company, the investment will help it recruit agents and expand its consumer roadmap into more health and personal financial support.

Founded in 2020, the company partners with independent agents to deliver a concierge service for navigating retirement benefits. It handles agents’ marketing, sales support, back office, and compliance requirements, and it gives agents a platform for omnichannel client engagement under the Spark Membership, a concierge consumer service that leads to more engaged and retained clients, as well as new referral and cross-sell opportunities.

“Enrolling in Medicare is just the first step in a retirement journey. There are huge classes of meaningful and predictable problems that come up after enrollment – such as finding an in-network specialist, understanding an opaque billing statement, and, critically for today, figuring out how to access COVID treatments and vaccines. Each of these problems is an opportunity to build trust. By tackling these problems, often when no one else will, we are building not only a leading Medicare brokerage but our clients’ trusted advisor for all things retirement.” – James Jiang, co-founder and CEO of Spark.

Spark is currently licensed in 18 states and contracted with all the major Medicare, life insurance, and supplemental health insurance carriers serving the retiree market. It serves over 3,000 members.

Bottom Line: More than 20 million Medicare beneficiaries work with independent agents today, representing the largest distribution channel for Medicare.