01Seed round
An AI advocate that helps 67 million Americans understand, navigate, optimize, and enroll in Medicare.
Business model
02Problem and solution
The problem
More than 11,000 Americans turn 65 every day, and there's no digital home for their coverage. They bounce between plan finders, brokers, carriers and call centers, and nobody owns the relationship.
The solution
Meet Dorthy, the AI advocate that walks with you through the maze: answering your questions, finding and enrolling in the right plan, and optimizing your benefits for years after.
Breaks down Medicare intricacies, giving consumers understanding with confidence.
Uses each person's own data to suggest the plans that fit them best.
Starting the moment you're curious about Medicare, with support for everything that follows, year after year.
03Business model
One Dorthy engine. Carriers license it under their own brand from 2027. That funds and proves it before the Dorthy app launches to consumers in mid-2028.
This round · 2027
White-label Dorthy in the carrier's brand.
Next · mid-2028
The Dorthy app, via our licensed agency.
Later
Agencies license Dorthy for their agents.
Carrier fees are flat, never per enrollment, so contracts stay clean under CMS rules.
04Why carriers first
By June 2028, on a $2.5M seed
| Measure | Carriers first | Straight to consumers |
|---|---|---|
| Net cash spent | $1.81M | $2.25M |
| Marketing spent before any member used Dorthy | $0 | $576K |
| Cash left from the seed | $746K | $305K, runs out Oct 2028 |
| Paying customers | 3 carriers | Members from one season |
| Proof the product works | Real members across several carriers | One test market |
Going straight to consumers launches about a year sooner, but carriers first collects $7.5M against $5.7M by the end of 2029 and spends $1.9M less. We would rather reach consumers with proof than spend our way there.
05Market and traction
Carriers are the smaller market, and they pay from 2027 on. Consumers are the goal: every enrollment pays a commission, then a renewal every year. Chapter, a consumer Medicare guide, raised $100M at a $3B valuation in April 2026.
Pays us now · 2027
A flat license, $6 per member per year.
The goal · from mid-2028
A commission per enrollment, then a renewal every year.
Circle areas are drawn to scale within each panel; the consumer market is about 350 times the carrier market. Renewals are an upper bound: not every member's plan pays a commission. Sources: CMS CY2027 agent and broker compensation maximums; CMS Monthly Enrollment by Contract, Sept 2026; U.S. Census / Peak 65. Carrier member counts are company estimates.
What Civil Health has accomplished
06Use of funds
Build the engine
$898K
36% of spending
Win and serve carriers
$648K
26% of spending
Medicare and AI expertise
$500K
20% of spending
Compliance & security
$198K
8% of spending
Platform and data, admin and consumer launch prep make up the remaining 11%. Member data stays on AWS under a HIPAA business associate agreement, and the AI never trains on it.
07Civil Health team
Leads the engineering and development of Dorthy. Serves on an enterprise-level AI Council. Brings 14 years of engineering experience, including seven years building and leading engineering teams delivering multimillion-dollar projects. Recognized by C-suite leadership for technical innovation and significant business impact.
Leads Dorthy’s strategy, fundraising, investor relations, and operations. Brings 11 years of experience across healthcare, technology, and consulting, including roles at UnitedHealth Group, Uber, Ernst & Young, and Cognizant. Previously led a global team and supported a successful bid for the Department of Defense’s $136B TRICARE T-5 contract.
Engineering team
A larger team we can scale into as we hire. Together we built the working POC.
Next hires, funded by this round
08The ask
$2.5M
Seed round (SAFE) · 18 months of runway