* Investors include Royal Bank of Canada, Manulife
* League plans expansion, own insurance product in coming
months
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, June 14 (Reuters) - Canadian health insurance
startup League Inc has raised $25 million in early-stage funding
from backers including the country's biggest bank, according to
its chief executive and co-founder.
Mike Serbinis, who also ran e-book company Kobo before it
was sold to Rakuten Inc 4755.T for $315 million in 2011, said
League plans to launch its own insurance products in the next
few months as it expands across Canada and in the U.S. Pacific
coast states of Washington, Oregon and California.
The company, which is also targeting New York, Dallas and
Boston this year, sells software that helps employers manage
employee benefits, with the aim of cutting costs and reducing
paperwork.
Serbinis said the initial focus is on small businesses, many
of which do not currently offer health benefits to employees.
While traditional health insurance claims might cost dollars or
tens of dollars to process, "it costs us less than a penny," he
said.
"Insurance is just another commodity waiting to be Uber'd,"
he added in a phone interview, referring to the ride-hailing app
that has played havoc with the traditional taxi industry.
The series A financing round was led by OMERS Ventures and
included investments from Canada's largest bank Royal Bank of
Canada RY.TO , Manulife Financial Corp MFC.TO , and Power
Financial Corp PWF.TO , as well as Mike Lazaridis' Infinite
Potential Technologies, League said in a statement.
League and its backers did not disclose the size of the
stake or what value it puts on the company.
The cash injection is one of the biggest ever series A
raises for a Canadian life sciences company, according to
Thomson Reuters data.
Venture capital investment in the Canadian life sciences
arena has been growing steadily for several years, with some
C$312 million ($243.73 million) invested so far this year, not
including the League announcement, compared to C$175 million
from the same time a year ago.
It is already the best first half for this type of
investment in Canadian life sciences companies since 2007, when
companies secured C$376 million in the first six months.
($1 = 1.2801 Canadian dollars)