Seattle startup Avante aims to disrupt employee benefits industry

Avante officially made its public launch Tuesday, hitting a milestone in the startup’s journey to shake up how companies manage spending on employee benefits.

GeekWire initially covered Avante as it emerged from stealth made in early 2024. The company has now grown to 25 employees and is working with a handful of enterprise clients, including Datavant, OneDigital, Real Chemistry, and Zscaler.

Avante’s software aims to help companies decrease HR administration workload and reduce overall benefits program costs. It also offers an AI assistant designed to provide benefits guidance to employees.

The company declined to share revenue metrics.

Avante competes against a number of benefits management software companies, including the likes of Workday, ADP, Deel, Rippling, and others.

Avante is led by CEO Rohan D’Souza, former chief product officer for health care automation company Olive AI; and epidemiologist Carly Eckert, MD, Ph.D., Avante’s head of innovation and impact, who was executive vice president at Olive AI, which shut down last year after selling its key business units.

Kabir Shahani, a serial entrepreneur who was CEO of Seattle-based marketing tech startup Amperity before exiting without public explanation two years ago, is Avante’s executive chairman.

Seattle-area VC firm Fuse led a $10 million seed round for Avante last year. Other backers include Ascend, HighSage Ventures, and angel investors.