Mike Mikan, CEO of Bright Health Photo courtesy of Bright Healt

Minneapolis-based Bright Health Inc. is on a different planet than any other Minnesota startups. To date the company has raised more than $1.5 billion in financing.

Now a report has surfaced that Bright Health is eying going public with an initial public offering (IPO) later this year. Bloomberg broke the news on Thursday evening in a story based on information from “people with knowledge of the matter.”

On Friday morning, a media representative for Bright Health declined comment. The company has filed nothing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission outlining plans to go public.

Founded in 2015, Bright Health is building a new health insurance plan. The company’s model is to partner with a single health care provider in any new market it enters. Bright Health now offers insurance in 13 states and more than 50 markets.

According to Bloomberg, the company is working with JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, and Barclays Plc on the potential offering. Bloomberg reported that underwriters were seeking a valuation for Bright Health approaching $20 billion.

“Bright Health is probably one of the most transformational startups the region’s had in a long time…rapid growth, great team, major venture backers,” said Frank Jaskulke, VP of intelligence for Medical Alley Association, a trade group for companies in the state’s health care industry.

Bright Health is not the only company in the U.S. trying to roll out a new health insurance plan.

Two of the bigger names among those companies are New York-based Oscar Health Inc. and Nashville-based Clover Health. Both firms have gone public within the last six months.

Oscar just went public in early March, raising $1.2 billion. Clover went public last year after being acquired by a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in a deal valued at $3.7 billion.

“There’s a lot of companies building kind of the modern health insurance plan,” said Jaskulke.

“I think what sets Bright apart from the other players around the U.S.—Oscar and Clover—is really the team of people they have. They’re deeply experienced in health care, in health insurance. They know what parts of health insurance work and they know where the challenges are.”

With the stock market surging and money flowing freely on Wall Street, going public is a very attractive option right now for many companies. Minnesota’s Sun Country Airlines just went public two weeks ago.

Bright Health announced raising $500 million in its Series E financing round in September.

In recent years, Bright Health has accounted for a large percentage of the capital raised by Minnesota medical startups. Medical Alley’s 2020 investment report found that Bright’s $500 million accounted for more than one-third of the total $1.4 billion invested in state medical companies.

Twin Cities Business took an early, in-depth look at Bright Health in 2018.