Corridor, a new startup focusing on health benefits brokerage for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), has raised a $25 million seed round led by Bain Capital Ventures. Founded by Jackson Wagner, the company aims to address a gap where traditional brokerages often overlook SMBs because their smaller accounts generate lower commissions despite requiring similar effort as larger accounts. Corridor’s platform combines AI with human advisors to streamline administrative healthcare tasks, offering services such as verifying doctor network participation, scheduling care, and updating insurance information.

The idea behind Corridor was inspired by Wagner’s personal experience with chronic pain after a running accident and the challenges he faced navigating healthcare. After leaving his role as a product lead at Scale AI in mid-2022 and earning a master’s degree at UC Berkeley, Wagner partnered with Eric Qian and others to explore tech-driven healthcare solutions. They initially worked on Capernaum AI, a clinical agent for musculoskeletal care, before pivoting to launch Corridor, which targets improved access to quality health plans for SMB employees.

Corridor distinguishes itself by deploying AI agents to reduce the manual burdens on traditional health benefits brokers while maintaining personalized support through human advisors. CEO Nikhil Aggarwal describes the company as a dedicated concierge for all healthcare needs of employees and management. Investors backing Corridor include BoxGroup and executives from OpenAI, Scale AI, and Ramp, signaling strong confidence in the company’s potential to reshape healthcare benefits for smaller employers.

Looking ahead, Corridor is preparing to capitalize on a critical market period as 80% of small businesses select their health plans in the fourth quarter. The company’s long-term vision is to establish itself as the most trusted healthcare institution in the U.S. by consistently delivering on its promises to both businesses and their employees. Corridor joins other startups like Ignition Benefits and Nava Benefits in innovating health insurance brokerage for the SMB segment.