Optum buys majority stake in Audax Health Solutions

Feb 20 2014

Optum and Audax Health Solutions, Inc., today announced that Optum has acquired a majority stake in Audax.

Since its founding in 2010, Audax has quickly attracted widespread interest in its technology that enables consumers to better manage their health. Through strategic partnerships with health plans, distribution partners, employers, care providers and condition-management companies, alongside integration with wearables companies like Fitbit, Polar, Withings and BodyMedia, Audax has swiftly gained market share, providing millions of users with its innovative, consumer-centric digital offering. Optum plans to expand Audax's offerings to more broadly support consumers' need for integrated benefit selection, wellness and health care administration.

"Since day one, our vision at Audax has been to positively impact the way consumers manage their health. Today, we took a huge step toward achieving that goal," said Grant Verstandig, CEO and founder of Audax. "Joining with Optum, especially with its unmatched depth of experience and resources, accelerates our momentum, providing the additional reach and scale required to meaningfully advance health care more rapidly."

"Optum and Audax share the common goals of improving health care and making the health system work better, and we believe the combination of our skills and experience serving people across virtually every health care channel can help us reach those goals faster," said David Wichmann, UnitedHealth Group CFO. "The shareholders, customers, leadership and employees of Audax are already making compelling contributions to managing health. We are committed to supporting the ongoing efforts of the Audax team to engage consumers in taking better control of their health."

John Sculley, Audax investor and board member, said, "Optum's investment in Audax is evidence that a new era of consumer engagement and innovation can be the turning point that sets a new trajectory for global health care services."

Audax will operate as a freestanding investment of Optum, serving multiple independent market channels, led by its founder and CEO Grant Verstandig and President and COO David Ko.