# Ignition Benefits

[Ignition Benefits on Hacklab](https://hacklab.so/org/ignition-benefits)

Startup · 1 person on Hacklab

## Links

- [Website](https://www.ignitionbenefits.com/)
- [Y Combinator](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/ignition-benefits)
- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/ignition-benefits)
- [X](https://x.com/GoIgnition)
- [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/IgnitionBenefits)

## About

<!-- hacklab:yc-profile -->

## YC company profile

The AI-Native Benefits Brokerage

Ignition is an AI-native employee benefits brokerage for companies with under 200 employees. Health insurance is one of the largest line items these companies carry, and employers absorb 15 to 40% rate increases year after year without ever seeing their own numbers. We have rebuilt the sales and back office to be AI-first. This market represents about $500B of market cap, and those businesses have not fundamentally changed in over 50 years. While scaling Plated, I wore every HR hat from doing payroll myself, to managing a PEO, to eventually hiring an employee benefits broker on our way to 1,500 employees. We wasted over $4M on benefits over 5 years, and I'm building Ignition to help companies under 200 employees avoid making my mistakes.

- **YC batch:** Fall 2026
- **Founded:** 2026
- **Team size:** 12
- **Location:** Los Angeles, CA
- **Country:** US
- **Status:** Active
- **Industry:** Fintech
- **Stage:** Early
- **Tags:** Health Insurance, Insurance, AI
- **YC partner:** Aaron Epstein

## Founders

### Nick Taranto — Founder/CEO

Founder at Ignition Benefits. Previously founded Plated, the first American meal kit company (sold to Albertsons for $300M in 2017). Former US Marine Corps. MBA from Harvard; BA from Dartmouth. While scaling Plated, I wore every HR hat from doing payroll myself, to managing a PEO, to eventually hiring an employee benefits broker on our way to 1,500 employees. We wasted over $4M on benefits over 5 years, and I'm building Ignition to help companies under 200 employees avoid making my mistakes.

[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicktaranto/) · [X](https://x.com/NickTaranto)

[Source: Y Combinator](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/ignition-benefits) · Retrieved 2026-11-02. Company information is self-reported on YC.

## Current staff

- [Nick Taranto](https://hacklab.so/nick-taranto) — Founder/CEO (Present)

## Open jobs

- [Founding Member of Technical Staff](https://hacklab.so/jobs/ba0a68cb-e756-5f4a-88ca-7789ec67e8e7) — Full\-time · On\-site · San Jose, CA, US · $180K \- $200K · 0\.15% \- 0\.35% equity