Fleri

Fleri Inc. is a Columbus, Ohio-based personal finance and cross-border health company serving immigrants in the diaspora. Its core proposition is to replace ad-hoc cash remittances sent for medical emergencies with structured healthcare coverage and care services purchased in the beneficiary's home country. Through its first product, FleriHealth, immigrants can compare and buy private health insurance plans and healthcare packages for dependent relatives abroad, starting with families in Africa. Beneficiaries receive an identification card that allows them to access care at in-country provider networks, while the sponsoring immigrant receives health alerts and wellness reports tracking the care delivered.

Company materials describe a family care membership priced at $99 per year that includes a dedicated family care manager, an assigned primary care doctor and unlimited care coordination. Fleri also connects users to vetted healthcare providers in their home countries and makes pre-payments directly to providers where needed, so that the user does not have to send a cash transfer. The company is categorized under individual and family services and describes activity spanning health insurance, life insurance, funeral policies, remittances and cross-border transfers for immigrant communities from Africa and South East Asia.

The company name Fleri means "to flourish" in Haitian Creole. Its stated longer-term ambition, as articulated by its Techstars Toronto accelerator managing director, extends beyond healthcare funding toward broader financial products that help immigrants manage their own financial lives alongside supporting relatives abroad.

Founding story

Founder Sam Baddoo grew up in Ghana and studied economics in Morocco on a United Nations scholarship, where he volunteered with an organization supporting stranded sub-Saharan migrants in North Africa. After building ventures in Ghana and then immigrating to the United States, where he combined entrepreneurship with service in the U.S. Army Reserves, he founded Fleri in 2020 following the illness and loss of his grandmother in Ghana, an experience that exposed the difficulty diaspora relatives face in managing a loved one's healthcare from abroad.

Business model

Fleri sits between immigrants in destination countries and insurers and healthcare providers in origin countries. It sells healthcare plans and a family care membership to diaspora customers and acts as a lead generation and customer acquisition partner for insurers operating in emerging markets, who underwrite the risk and supply the provider networks. This shifts the premium payer to a higher-income diaspora population while expanding the insured pool in the home market.

Subscription and plan-based consumer payments, including a family care membership advertised at $99 per year, plus insurance distribution for partner underwriters in beneficiary countries.

Traction

During its pilot year, FleriHealth enabled more than 220 family members to access healthcare in Ghana and Nigeria; the company partnered with five health insurance companies and additional healthcare providers in those pilot markets and offered a concierge care service backed by 400 nurses for families of Nigerian immigrants. Company profiles list a headcount in the range of 1-11 employees.

Latest developments

Third-party investor records show the most recent recorded investment activity in March 2023, associated with ODBA founding partner Gbite Oduneye. ODBA describes Fleri launching in Canada to extend access to affordable healthcare beyond Africa. The joinfleri.com domain currently resolves to a domain brokerage holding page.