Benefitfocus took on one of the dullest problems in American business: getting people signed up for health, dental, life and disability insurance at work. The Charleston, South Carolina company built a cloud platform where employers, insurance carriers and their members could shop, enroll and manage benefits in one place. It went public in September 2013, weeks before the Affordable Care Act's insurance exchanges opened. It had about 862 employees.

A Charleston Startup

Shawn Jenkins and Mason Holland founded Benefitfocus in June 2000. Jenkins ran it as chief executive, and Holland served as executive chairman. The bet was that benefits administration, a tangle of rules, forms and money moving between employers and insurers, belonged on the web. Benefitfocus sold to both sides. Employers used it to run their plans, and carriers used it to sell and manage coverage, including extras like critical illness and wellness programs.

Voya Buys at $10.50

Benefitfocus priced its IPO at $26.50 a share in September 2013 and listed on the Nasdaq Global Market as BNFT. It entered the market as a controlled company. The shares later fell well below the offer price. In November 2022 Voya Financial agreed to buy Benefitfocus for $10.50 a share in cash, a 49 percent premium to the last close before the news. The deal closed in January 2023.

Cover: Sharing an Umbrella - A Set of Three (Aigasa sanpukutsui), Ishikawa Toyonobu. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for sharing an umbrella (shared coverage).