Penelope Health Lands $100M to Untangle Insurance Rules for 200M Americans

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-18

London-based Penelope Health just raised $100 million (€87 million) to fix one of the most frustrating parts of American healthcare: figuring out what insurance actually covers. The company announced the funding commitment this week, alongside a partnership with HealthTech infrastructure platform Thoreau. Together, they're building a shared layer for real-time payments and clinical rules. ### Why This Matters for Anyone Who's Ever Been Stuck on Hold If you've ever waited days for a prior authorization or been surprised by a bill, you know the pain. The rules that determine coverage are opaque, fragmented, and constantly changing. Dr. Sohum Patel, CEO and co-founder, puts it plainly: "The rules that determine whether care is covered by insurance are foundational to the healthcare system, yet they remain opaque, fragmented, difficult to interpret, and are constantly changing." Penelope's mission is to turn that mess into a dependable, up-to-date reference that healthcare companies can use in real time. ### A Platform Covering 200 Million Americans Penelope's platform currently covers policies for over 200 million Americans, spanning more than 15,000 procedures and drug codes. That's a huge chunk of the insured population. Instead of custom, one-off connections and manual searches, healthcare organizations get a single connection any system can use. They can check coverage requirements, compare policies across payers, and streamline internal operations. ### The Team Behind the Fix Penelope was co-founded in 2025 by Dr. Patel and CTO Mattijs De Paepe. Dr. Patel practiced in both inpatient and outpatient settings in the UK's National Health Service at the Royal Free London and University College London hospital systems. He saw firsthand how administrative complexity interferes with patient care. De Paepe spent nearly four years at Via Transportation, building machine-learning systems for transit products. Now they're applying that tech to healthcare. ### A Hot Sector in 2026 This round is part of a bigger trend. Investment in European healthcare infrastructure and AI tools aimed at reducing administrative workloads is surging. Just this year, Stockholm-based Tandem Health raised $95 million (€86.5 million), Berlin-based Recare pulled in up to $40.6 million (€37 million), and Barcelona-based Health Force secured $4.6 million (€4.2 million). In the UK, London-based Semble raised $38 million (€34.7 million), while Flexzo AI secured $11.3 million (€10.3 million). Clearly, investors see huge potential in fixing healthcare's back office. ### What's Next The new funding will be used to create new products that bring administrative efficiency to navigating payer requirements. With Thoreau's partnership, Penelope aims to build infrastructure for AI to power a more efficient healthcare system. As De Paepe says, "The opportunity extends far beyond any single workflow. We believe that a shared infrastructure layer can remove administrative burden for both payers and providers." If they succeed, it could mean less time on hold and more time for actual care. And that's something we can all root for.