Scout InsurTech Interview with Mirza

Mirza is a technology company building the Digital Front Door for the Safety Net. They consolidate the overwhelming experience of applying for multiple social benefits into one streamlined process. Chris Luiz sat with Co-Founder and COO, Mel Faxon, to learn more about how Mirza is impacting the industry.

Who are your clients?

Our clients include large payers with a Medicaid presence, like UnitedHealthcare, whom we support both on the Medicaid side and for their internal employees. We also work with employers such as Best Buy and the Adecco Group, a staffing agency. Our focus is on organizations in retail, manufacturing, healthcare and other sectors with large numbers of deskless or frontline workers. Ideal partners include companies like Walmart and Costco. Insurance companies with large customer service operations, like Progressive, are also a good fit.

What does your product do?

Our platform is like TurboTax for government benefits. It provides a simple and user-friendly way to identify and apply for safety net programs, including child care, food assistance, home visiting and healthcare-related services.

How much capital have you raised?

We have raised a seed round and are currently striving towards profitability.

Was the company born from within or outside the industry?

We originally explored a childcare insurance product, but found the underwriting of an ongoing expense unsustainable. Although that idea came from an insurance-related concept, we’ve since shifted focus. The healthcare angle emerged afterward, and we’re no longer strictly within the insurance space.

What growth metrics have you accomplished over the last 12 months?

We’ve been operating for about five years. One of our most impactful metrics is that, in a recent user survey, over 40 percent of respondents reported being able to increase their work hours or have a family member return to full-time work within six months of using our platform. This resulted in household income increases of up to 170 percent.

Within your domain, what is the current challenge that the industry is facing?

This year has brought political and policy-related uncertainty, particularly around healthcare funding and government programs like Medicaid, SNAP and Head Start. Many organizations are being asked to do more with less. Our platform is increasingly valuable because it automates and simplifies complex processes. For instance, in Ohio, 90 percent of childcare applications were being rejected due to user’s applying who didn’t have children. We help by designing systems people can understand, so they apply to the appropriate programs, which reduces administrative overhead and improves outcomes.

How does Mirza take a unique approach to providing value?

We focus on workers who are often excluded from traditional benefit systems, such as part-time or hourly frontline employees. Rather than targeting white-collar environments with robust benefits, we build solutions for those who need them most. Our model brings together public and private sectors, engaging both employers and insurers to supplement government support. This is crucial because childcare functions as economic infrastructure, and enabling access is key to workforce participation.

What inspired the team to start this company?

My co-founder and I were focused on addressing the gender pay gap and the barriers preventing women from fully participating in the workforce. Unpaid leave and the high cost of childcare are the top contributors. Lower-income families can spend up to 45 percent of their income on childcare. We saw a chance to drive economic empowerment by reducing that burden, especially for women.

Can you share any goals for the next 12 months?

Our primary focus is growing ARR by expanding our top-of-funnel efforts and closing new deals. We're preparing for our next funding round and have several exciting partnerships in the pipeline that should help us accelerate growth significantly.

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