Lively, Inc.

Lively, Inc. operates a health and lifestyle employee benefits platform built around the Health Savings Account. Its product line spans HSAs for individuals and employer groups plus employer-sponsored accounts including Flexible Spending Accounts, Health Reimbursement Arrangements, Lifestyle Spending Accounts, Medical Travel Accounts, Commuter benefits, and COBRA and Direct Bill administration. Accounts are managed through a web dashboard and iOS/Android apps that support balance and transaction tracking, debit card management, claims initiation and receipt capture, eligible-expense lookup, and two-factor and biometric login. Lively is not itself a bank or FDIC-insured institution; it partners with financial institutions for deposit holding, with HSA cards issued by Choice Financial Group under a Visa or Mastercard license, and has historically offered investment functionality via a TD Ameritrade partnership.

The company's current platform framing is Lively Axis, described as an AI healthcare payments and benefits platform that unifies benefits administration, healthcare spending and investing by connecting account balances, employer rules and real-time carrier data. Stated Axis capabilities include automated file syncs and reconciliation, plain-language reporting, a smart debit card that routes funds at checkout, and AI features that surface missed tax-free reimbursements, guide enrollment decisions and complete account tasks. Lively also publishes research for HR audiences, including an Employee Benefits Market Check report and a 2026 AI in HR Report based on a survey of more than 250 HR leaders.

Public company data is mixed on scale: Y Combinator lists a team size of 195, while LeadIQ reports approximately 173 employees across North America, Europe and Asia and a headquarters address at 950 Mason Street #1355, San Francisco. Reported technologies in use include Kubernetes, Marketo, C3.js, Objective-C and Aha!.

Founding story

Co-founders Alex Cyriac (CEO) and Shobin Uralil (COO) began the effort after a 2015 conversation, according to a Forbes account, and built Lively to offer health savings accounts matching younger consumers' expectations for low or transparent fees and online management. Uralil has described the HSA as a "401(k) for healthcare" that is underused as an investment vehicle. The company was founded in 2016 and went through Y Combinator's Winter 2017 batch, with Aaron Epstein as primary partner.

Business model

Lively sells benefits accounts and administration to employers, brokers and consultants while offering HSAs directly to individuals. Published pricing lists HSAs as free for individuals and families and business HSA administration at $0.00 per employee per month subject to a $200 monthly minimum, with preferred pricing available on request; optional investment features may carry an additional fee. Because Lively partners with banks rather than holding deposits itself, revenue mechanics beyond stated administration and investment fees are not disclosed in the sources.

Sources describe per-employee-per-month administration pricing for employers (with a $200 monthly minimum), no fees for individual and family HSA holders, and possible additional fees for optional investing. No revenue figures are disclosed in the material.

Traction

Reported traction includes surpassing $2 billion in HSA assets (May 2025), roughly 173-195 employees, over 98% employer retention, more than $24 million in cumulative fees saved for account holders, a 4.8-star average from about 9,000 Apple App Store ratings, and Inc. 5000 listings in 2024, 2025-2026 (highest HSA provider in 2026). Total disclosed funding is reported at $122M as of July 2026.

Latest developments

In June 2026 Lively launched Lively Axis, an AI healthcare payments and benefits platform that connects account balances, employer rules and carrier data for partners and employers. The company also published a 2026 AI in HR Report surveying more than 250 HR leaders and announced it was the highest-ranked HSA provider on the 2026 Inc. 5000 list. Earlier developments include the April 2025 AI-powered HR bundle and passing $2 billion in HSA assets in May 2025.