When Nikita Singareddy first described Fortuna Health as the “TurboTax for Medicaid,” the reaction was always the same: why doesn’t this already exist? The platform was built to help people navigate the maze of government health coverage which seemed so obvious, she said, that most people assumed the problem had already been solved.
It hadn’t. And that gap has now fueled an $18 million Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Y Combinator and a roster of healthcare veterans from companies including One Medical, Oscar Health, Abridge, DoorDash, Hex, and Vanta. The funding will help Fortuna expand to more states, scale its infrastructure, and double down on AI-powered automation as federal policy changes put millions of people at risk of losing Medicaid coverage.
“We started about two and a half years ago,” Singareddy said. “We wanted to solve a big, meaningful problem in healthcare but specifically a tech problem. There are many issues in healthcare, but this was one where consumer-grade technology could make a real difference.”
Fortuna’s platform offers a modern, multilingual interface that helps patients complete Medicaid applications, manage recertifications, and avoid coverage disruptions. That’s no small task. The U.S. has 56 different Medicaid programs across states and territories, each with its own eligibility rules, renewal timelines, and documentation requirements. Fortuna’s software unifies those variations into a single experience that supports consumers from end to end integrating with verification databases, processing submissions via fax, snail mail, or digital portals, and looping in human navigators when needed.
“We’re not just a prettier front end,” she said. “We’ve had to build automation for everything because one state might require digital upload, another might still need fax, and another still runs on paper. We’ve built for all of it.”
The funding arrives at a pivotal moment for Medicaid. Recent federal reconciliation legislation introduced stricter eligibility standards, including work requirements for some adults and more frequent redeterminations. More than 11 million people are now expected to face new procedural hurdles that could jeopardize their coverage, many of them for administrative reasons rather than eligibility failures.
“Complexity, administrative red tape, and a flood of policy changes are leaving millions uninsured for procedural reasons,” said Julie Yoo, general partner at a16z Bio + Health. “Fortuna is building the consumer-friendly co-pilot to make Medicaid work.”
Health plans and hospitals have already begun leaning heavily on Fortuna. The company partners with payers covering over 25 million Medicaid lives and serves as an enrollment partner to patient billing platforms like Cedar, embedding Medicaid workflows directly into the financial experience at the point of care. That partnership has helped hospitals reduce uncompensated care by up to 53%, according to the company.
“Healthcare providers are facing intensifying financial strain,” said Cedar CEO Florian Otto. “With millions of patients at risk of losing coverage, hospitals and physician groups are bracing for tighter margins. Our continued partnership with Fortuna allows us to embed modern, patient-friendly Medicaid enrollment directly into the billing experience.”
For state Medicaid directors, the pressure is just as acute. Shifting federal rules and aging infrastructure have left public agencies struggling to manage the surge in recertification. “Urgent timelines, shifting policies, and complex rules make Medicaid eligibility a challenge,” said Jennifer Langer Jacobs, CEO of Medicaid Works and former Medicaid Director for New Jersey. “Fortuna’s intuitive user experience carefully guides applicants through accurate submission. Their technology activates enrollee outreach and supports more efficient processing.”
Singareddy is quick to clarify that AI is not the product, but a tool that strengthens the workflows. “We do use AI, but it’s not the core,” she said. “Our value is in helping someone actually complete their application—not just giving them the general idea. That’s the difference between a search engine and a real service.”
Still, she sees opportunities in applying AI to related healthcare gaps, including digitizing doctor’s notes and building voice AI for high-volume frontline roles. “I’m really bullish on AI nurses,” she said. “We clearly have a shortage of doctors and nurses, and I’d happily get care from a good AI. That’s better than being one of 100 patients seen in five-minute increments.”
For now, Fortuna is focused on what it sees as the most urgent infrastructure problem in healthcare: eligibility. While many healthtech startups focus on employer-based coverage or private insurance, Fortuna serves the part of the population that rarely makes headlines—low-income, multilingual, and often navigating public systems with no tech support.
“At MVP Health Care, we recognize that true access to care goes beyond coverage—it requires removing systemic barriers,” said Dr. Richard Dal Col, President of MVP Health Care. “Fortuna’s platform brings both innovation and empathy to one of the most complex challenges in health care.”
That mix of empathy and precision has helped Fortuna earn trust across health plans, hospitals, and now state governments. “We’re expanding our technical and operational partnerships with Medicaid agencies,” said Singareddy. “The public sector is doing the hard work, but they’ve been underinvested in for too long. We want to support them with the tools they deserve.”
As new federal mandates roll out and state-by-state complexity grows, Fortuna is positioning itself as the connective tissue between consumers, payers, and governments. The infrastructure may be fragmented, but the experience doesn’t have to be.
“Access shouldn’t come at the expense of integrity or efficiency,” Singareddy said. “We’re building the infrastructure to ensure the Medicaid coverage experience is reliable, efficient, and designed around the needs of today’s consumer.”
