Sesame closes on $27M in funding to grow its pay-per-visit healthcare marketplace

Access to quality and affordable healthcare has long been an issue in the United States.

Not everyone can afford health insurance and even for those who can, medical care can still be cost-prohibitive.

Sesame, a startup that aims to address those issues with its online medical care marketplace, has raised $27 million in a Series B financing round led by GV (formerly Google Ventures) to advance its efforts.

New York City-based Sesame is a two-sided marketplace populated by physicians and patients only. Consumers are able to research and shop for a physician — and book an appointment — on its site. The startup claims that it is able to lower the price of healthcare by cutting out the bureaucracy and rules associated with health insurance and giving consumers a way to access physicians — including specialists — on a pay-per-visit basis.