Verily CEO Calls Sale of Insurance Business a ‘Strategic Win’

Alphabet life sciences unit Verily has officially sold its insurance business to Elevance Health, its CEO told employees last week, as the company continues to shed projects and focus on AI.

In an April 30 memo to staff, which was seen by Business Insider, Verily CEO Stephen Gillett said Elevance’s acquisition of its stop-loss insurance subsidiary, Granular, had officially closed.

“This acquisition represents a strategic win for Elevance Health, Granular, and Verily,” Gillett wrote in a note to staff.

“On our end, this sale strengthens Verily’s financial position and allows us to reinvest the proceeds towards Verily’s strategic priorities,” he later added.

BI first reported in February that Verily had entered an agreement to sell Granular to insurance provider Elevance Health. A Verily spokesperson referred BI to a previous statement confirming the company’s agreement to sell Granular.

Companies sometimes take out top-loss insurance to pay their employees’ medical bills and limit their financial exposure, potentially protecting them from sharp increases in spending. Granular launched in 2020 and used “proprietary technology” for its services, the company said.

With its insurance business sold, Verily has shed another project as it aims to further streamline itself and refocus its strategy around AI.

Verily sits among the “other bets” owned by Alphabet but live outside Google.

It started out in Google’s moonshot lab in 2015 and focused on an array of projects, including wearables and surgical robots. It has been criticized for entertaining too many bets and lacking a clear focus. The unit completely pivoted to COVID-19 screening and testing during the pandemic. Last year, Verily announced a new AI-powered chronic care product named Lightpath, designed to help patients living with conditions such as diabetes and obesity.

Verily is also eyeing a future beyond Alphabet’s walls. In January, the life sciences group separated some of its internal systems from Google’s, such as certain employee benefit systems. Last year, Verily issued employees new laptops, office badges, and email addresses that are no longer aliases of the Google email domain, multiple people familiar with the matter told BI.

Verily is also looking to raise another round of capital in the next few months, BI previously reported.

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